Федеральное агентство по образованию

Государственное образовательное учреждениевысшего профессионального образования «Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Утверждено на заседании кафедрылингвистики и межкультурнойкоммуникацииИнститута иностранных языковРГУ имени С.А. Есенина

протокол № _ от ___________

Зав.кафедрой____________________________________________________________

(подпись, ФИО),

УМКпо дисциплине

«Лексикология английского языка»

для специальности 022900 «Перевод и переводоведение» направление 620100 «

Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация» Институт иностранных языков

РГУ имени С.А. Есенина

курс 3, семестр 5

всего часов 154 (76/78)

Составители: профессор, к.ф.н. Шеина И.М.,

доцент, к.ф.н. Визаулина В.В.

Выписка из ГОС ВПО специальности 031202 – «Перевод и переводоведение»,

ОПД.Ф.02.3 Лексикология

Теоретическая и прикладная лексикология. Связь лексикологии с другими разделами

языкознания.

Слово как основная единица лексической системы. Основные способы номинации в языке.

Этимологические основы лексикона.

Семасиология. Семантика лексических единиц. Значение слова в функциональном аспекте.

Методы разграничения значений и выявления компонентов значения. Национально-культурная

специфика смысловой структуры соотносительных слов в русском и изучаемых иностранных языках.

Историческая изменчивость смысловой структуры слова. Семантические группировки в лексической

системе языка.

Омонимия и ее место в лексической системе языка. Источники омонимии.

Словообразование. Морфологическое и деривационное строение слова. Историческая

изменчивость структуры слова. Принципы и методы морфемного и словообразовательного анализа

структуры слова в языке. Понятие словообразовательной модели. Основные и комплексные единицы

системы словообразования. Функциональный аспект в системе словообразования. Способы

словообразования в языке. Национально-культурная специфика словообразования.

Сочетаемость лексических единиц. Понятие валентности. Свободные и устойчивые

словосочетания. Фразеологические единицы. Соотнесенность фразеологической единицы и слова.

Классификация фразеологических единиц.

Социальная и территориальная дифференциация словарного состава.

Основы лексикографии.

АННОТАЦИЯ ДИСЦИПЛИНЫ

«Лексикология английского языка» – дисциплина, входящая в блок профессиональной

подготовки по специальности 031202 – «Перевод и переводоведение» (квалификация «Лингвист-

переводчик»).

Цель дисциплины: сформировать у студентов набор лингвистических и социокультурных

компетенций, которые позволят им эффективно работать с английской лексикой, обеспечивая

адекватность перевода в различных типах дискурса.

Задачи дисциплины:

формирование целостного представления о системном характере лексики и о роли лексических

категорий (синонимии, антонимии, полисемии) в построении речи;

формирование современных знаний о таких аспектах словарного состава английского языка,

как: типы лексических единиц, их специфические свойства и структура, морфологические,

синтаксические и стилистические особенности его лексического состава, закономерности

функционирования слов в английском дискурсе, неоднородность словарного состава

английского языка и пути его развития, лингвистические методы его исследования, лексическая

и внеязыковая реальность;

формирование базового понятийного аппарата, необходимого для обеспечения адекватного

перевода с английского языка на русский и наоборот;

формирование навыков корректного оценивания значимости каждого элемента в речевом

функционировании.

Для изучения данной дисциплины необходимы знания дисциплины «Введение в

языкознание».

Содержание дисциплины: лексикология английского языка. Акцент делается на изучении

специфических свойств различных разрядов лексики, направленном на углубленный анализ функций и

проявлений слова в тексте. Особое внимание уделяется сочетанию традиционных взглядов на

рассматриваемый материал с их последующим развитием в рамках функционального и когнитивного

направлений в современной лингвистике.

Структура дисциплины:

Курс состоит из семи модулей:

Модуль 1. Слово как объект лексикологии.

Модуль 2. Этимология.

Модуль 3. Лексическая семантика.

Модуль 4. Морфология и словообразование.

Модуль 5. Фразеология.

Модуль 6. Дифференциация лексики.

Модуль 7. Лексикография.

В результате изучения этой дисциплины студент должен:

ЗНАТЬ:

- общие закономерности строения, функционирования и развития лексической подсистемы

английского языка;

- специфические свойства различных разрядов лексики английского языка;

- особенности функционирования языковых средств, используемых в разных типах дискурса для

достижения определенных коммуникативных задач;

- стилистические и диалектные особенности дифференциации лексики на основе понятия

литературной нормы;

- различные культурно-специфические способы категоризации и классификации объектов и

явлений действительности;

- различия между научными и языковыми классификациями, научной и наивной картинами

мира.

УМЕТЬ:

- применять полученные теоретические знания на практике в процессе межкультурной

коммуникации;

- работать с научной литературой, аналитически осмысливать и обобщать теоретические

положения;

- сопоставлять различные точки зрения и объяснять сходства и отличия в подходах к проблеме;

- сравнивать различные дефиниции основных понятий лексикологии и давать свои

определения;

- строить объяснительное высказывание по научной проблеме, опираясь на прочитанный

материал;

- самостоятельно ставить исследовательские задачи и находить адекватные методы их решения;

- анализировать вокабуляр с точки зрения его социальной и локальной стратификации;

- ориентироваться в иноязычных реалиях, привлекая необходимые фоновые знания;

- оценивать и сравнивать различные культуры с позиции общечеловеческих ценностей.

ВЛАДЕТЬ:

- основными лингвистическими методами и приемами исследования лексики.

Содержание дисциплины«Лексикология английского языка»

МОДУЛЬ 1. СЛОВО КАК ОБЪЕКТ ЛЕКСИКОЛОГИИ

Тема 1. Лексикология как лингвистическая дисциплина. Слово как основная единица языка. Лексическая номинация

Лексикология общая и частная, историческая и описательная, прикладная и сопоставительная.

Предмет, цели и задачи лексикологии, ее связи с другими частными лингвистическими дисциплинами

(фонетикой, грамматикой, стилистикой и историей языка). Структурно-семантический,

функционально-коммуникативный и когнитивно-прагматический аспекты в изучении словарного

состава английского языка. Словарный состав как система лексических единиц. Лексические единицы

языка. Слово как основная единица лексической системы языка. Типы и виды языковой номинации:

номинация лексическая, препозитивная, дискурсивная. Внутренняя и внешняя лексическая номинация.

Первичная и вторичная лексическая номинация.

МОДУЛЬ 2. ЭТИМОЛОГИЯ

Тема 2. Этимологическая характеристика словарного состава английского языка.Заимствованная и исконная лексика в английском языке

Этимологическая характеристика номинативных единиц английского языка и их

коммуникативные исследования. Роль заимствования как способа номинации в истории английского

языка. Разнородность английского словаря с точки зрения его этимологического состава. Условность

терминов «исконный» и «заимствованный». Слова англосаксонского происхождения в современном

английском языке. Особый статус слов романского происхождения в лексиконе английского языка.

Заимствование из различных языков как социолингвистическое явление. Виды заимствований.

Заимствования и лексико-семантическая система английского языка. Ассимиляция заимствований в

словарном составе английского языка. Степень ассимиляции заимствований в лексико-семантической

системе английского языка, их системно-функциональные способности и коммуникативная

значимость. Влияние заимствований на словарный состав, лексико-семантическую систему, систему

номинации и систему словообразования английского языка.

МОДУЛЬ 3. ЛЕКСИЧЕСКАЯ СЕМАНТИКА

Тема 3. Природа значения слова. Семантическая структура современного английского языка.

Семантика. Основные подходы к значению слова. Семантика слова как словарной и

коммуникативной единицы современного английского языка. Значения лексических единиц. Значения

слова и проблемы лексической номинации. Аспекты и типы значений в структуре значения слова.

Лексическое, грамматическое, лексико-грамматическое, лингвостилистическое и прагматическое в

значении слова.

Тема 4. Способы семантической классификации лексики.Семантические связи слов в лексической системе английского языка

Семантические классы лексических единиц и семантические группировки словарных единиц:

семантические поля, лексико-грамматические классы слов, лексико-семантические группы слов,

тематические группы слов. Фреймовая структура семантического поля. Парадигматические связи

между однородными лексическими единицами. Синтагматические отношения в линейных

комбинациях лексических единиц. Гиперо-гипонимические ряды и группы слов. Синонимия и

синонимические ряды. Антонимия и антонимические пары и группы. Прототипические структуры как

способ категоризации лексики. Специфика англоязычной языковой картины мира как результат

национально-исторического, социоэтнопсихологического и культурного восприятия и

упорядочивающего отображения многообразия окружающего мира.

Тема 5. Полисемия и омонимия: их источники и классификации.Семантическая структура слова

Омонимия и полисемия. Семантическая неоднозначность и ее типы. Разграничение полисемии

и омонимии. Пути становления и классификация омонимов в английском языке. Смысловая структура

слова в современном английском языке. Смысловая структура соотносительных слов в английском и

русском языках. Метафора и метонимия как когнитивные механизмы создания новых значений.

Концептуальная теория метафоры. Теория ментальных пространств. Метафора в историческом

аспекте. Историческая изменчивость смысловой структуры слова. Диахронная классификация типов

лексических значений.

МОДУЛЬ 4. МОРФОЛОГИЯ И СЛОВООБРАЗОВАНИЕ

Тема 6. Словообразование современного английского языка.Морфологическая структура слова

Структура слова и словообразование. Лексическая морфология. Типология морфем.

Морфологическое значение слова. Принципы и методы морфемного анализа структуры слова. Понятие

членимости слова. Словообразовательная структура слова. Принципы и методы

словообразовательного анализа и основные составляющие деривационной структуры слова. Понятие

производной основы, типология деривационных основ в современном английском языке.

Деривационные морфемы. Структура и семантика словообразовательной модели. Продуктивность и

частотность словообразовательных моделей и словообразовательных средств как отражение их

функционального аспекта.

Тема 7. Основные способы словообразования.Аффиксация и словосложение

Аффиксация (префиксация и суффиксация). Семантика деривационного аффикса.

Многозначность и омонимия деривационных аффиксов. Принципы классификации аффиксов.

Когнитивная и коммуникативная значимость производного слова: прагматика лингвокреативной

деятельности. Словосложение. Основные особенности образования сложных слов в английском

языке. Критерии сложного слова, структурная и семантическая соотносительность сложных слов и

свободных словосочетаний в английском языке. Принципы классификации сложных слов.

Тема 8. Основные способы словообразования. Конверсия

Конверсия. Различное понимание природы конверсии. Критерии внутренней производности.

Семантические отношения при конверсии как критерий определения направления производности.

Тема 9. Второстепенные способы словообразованияВторостепенные способы словообразования: их роль в пополнении словарного состава

английского языка. Аббревиация, усечение, словосложение с сокращением основ, обратное

словообразование. Проблема статуса аббревиатур и усеченных слов. Типы дискурса, для которых

создаются данные виды слов.

МОДУЛЬ 5. ФРАЗЕОЛОГИЯ

Тема 10. Теория словосочетания. Типы словосочетаний. Фразеология современного английского языка

Роль синтагматики в изучении смысловой структуры слова. Роль и типы контекста. Значение

слова и модель словосочетания. Теория валентности и основные типы словосочетаний в современном

английском языке. Модель словосочетания и ее соотношение со значением ведущего компонента.

Условия и правила сочетаемости слов: лингвистические и экстралингвистические факторы,

ограничивающие сочетаемость слов. Свободные словосочетания и фразеологические единицы.

Устойчивые словосочетания, их отличительные признаки. Разнородность устойчивых словосочетаний

в современном английском языке, источники устойчивых сочетаний. Фразеоматика и фразеология.

Фразовые глаголы в современном английском языке. Проблема эквивалентности фразеологической

единицы и слова. Фразеологическая устойчивость. Классификация фразеологических единиц.

Коммуникативно-прагматические свойства фразеологических единиц. Национально-культурная

специфика семантики фразеологических единиц в английском и русском языках.

МОДУЛЬ 6. ДИФФЕРЕНЦИАЦИЯ ЛЕКСИКИ

Тема 11. Стилистическая стратификация словарного состава английского языка

Общая характеристика словарного состава современного английского языка. Словарный состав

английского языка как система, закономерности функционирования этой системы. Стилистические

регистры. Изменение словарного состава как социолингвистическое явление. Качественные и

количественные изменения словарного состава современного английского языка. Использование

английской лексики в письменной литературной речи (архаизмы, иностранные слова, терминология)

и в устной разговорной речи (сленгизмы, вульгаризмы, диалектизмы, профессионализмы).

Тема 12. Диалектная дифференциация словарного состава и основные варианты английского языка.Особенности словарного состава

английского языка за пределами Великобритании

Социальная и территориальная стратификация словарного состава современного английского

языка. Территориальная дифференциация лексико-семантической системы английского языка как

проявление пространственной и временной вариативности языка. Лексические особенности

английского языка в США, Австралии, Канаде и других странах распространения английского языка,

их историческая обусловленность и взаимопроникновение.

МОДУЛЬ 7. ЛЕКСИКОГРАФИЯ

Тема 13. Лексикография английского языка

Лексикография как одна из областей прикладной лексикологии. Отражение в

лексикографических трудах современного уровня научных исследований основных проблем

лексикологии английского языка (омонимия, конверсия и т.д.). Принципы классификации словарей и

основные параметры словаря. Основные типы английских словарей (толковые, синонимические,

фразеологические, этимологические, идеографические, отраслевые, словари новых слов, учебные

словари и др.). Наиболее известные серии британских и американских словарей разных типов.

Наиболее употребительные толковые словари. Принципы построения толковых словарей. Отбор

словника, структура словарной статьи. Справочный материал в английских и американских толковых

словарях. Основные принципы отечественной двуязычной лексикографии. Переводные англо-русские

и русско-английские словари. Проблема выбора эквивалента при составлении переводного словаря.

Учебная лексикография и ее особенности. Особенности построения учебных толковых англоязычных

словарей. Словари сочетаемости, особенности их построения. Характеристика нового поколения

учебных англоязычных словарей с культурологическим компонентом.

ПРИМЕРНЫЙ ТЕМАТИЧЕСКИЙ ПЛАН

Тема Всегочасов

В том числеаудиторных Самостоятельная

работавсего лекц. семинар

М. 1.Слово как объектлексикологии 12 6 2 4 6

Лексикология каклингвистическая дисциплина.Слово как основная единицаязыка. Лексическая номинация

12 6 2 4 6

М. 2. Этимология 16 8 4 4 8Этимологическая характеристикасловарного состава английскогоязыка. Заимствованная иисконная лексика в английскомязыке

16 8 4 4 8

М. 3. Лексическая семантика 38 22 12 10 16

Природа значения слова. Семантическая структурасовременного английского языка.

8 4 2 2 4

Способы семантическойклассификации лексики.Семантические связи слов влексической системе английскогоязыка

12 8 4 4 4

Полисемия и омонимия: ихисточники и классификации.Семантическая структура слова

18 10 6 4 8

М. 4. Морфология исловообразование 42 18 10 8 24

Словообразование современногоанглийского языка.Морфологическая структураслова

12 6 4 2 6

Основные способысловообразования. Аффиксацияи словосложение

10 4 2 2 6

Основные способысловообразования. Конверсия 10 4 2 2 6Второстепенные способысловообразования 10 4 2 2 6

М. 5. Фразеология 14 8 4 4 6

Теория словосочетания. Типысловосочетаний. Фразеологиясовременного английского языка

14 8 4 4 6

М. 6. Дифференциациялексики 22 10 6 4 12

Стилистическая стратификациясловарного состава английскогоязыка

12 6 4 2 6

Диалектная дифференциациясловарного состава и основныеварианты английского языка.Особенности словарного составаанглийского языка за пределамиВеликобритании

10 4 2 2 6

М. 7. Лексикография 10 4 2 2 6

Лексикография английскогоязыка 10 4 2 2 6

Итого: 154 76 40 36 78

Lectures on Lexicology

Lecture 1. The English Word

GOALS: to give and explain the most important characteristics of the word; to differentiate between different types of motivation; to look at the word from different perspectives.

1. The units of language.2. The word as the basic unit of language.3. The major issues of lexicology.

Language is viewed as a system within which there is a hierarchy of levels, units of onelevel being composed of sequences of units of the level below. Some scholars define theselevels in terms of the following units:morpheme, word, phrase, clause, sentence. Others add text on top of this list. But thequestion whether «Text» can be regarded as a unit of language is still debatable. Not alllinguists include «clause» in the list. But most scholars agree that «phoneme» does not belongto the units of language. Why? Each of the above-mentioned elements is two-facet: it has bothmeaning and form.

Why is the word the basic unit? To answer this question we have to briefly consider allthe other units.

The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit, but it cannot be used separately, it isalways a part of a word, and, thus, it does not possess integrity. (Examples).

Both the phrase and the sentence consist of words. One of their chief characteristics issubstitutability: we can substitute words preserving the same structure:

an exciting novel I was reading an exciting novel.a dull story I was looking through a dull story.In our speech we create new phrases and sentences choosing the appropriate rules of

combining words among the syntactic rules of the language we speaking. We can change theorder of components within certain limits provided by those syntactic rules. These units arenot internally stable.The text has even a vaguer structure. Each text produced by a speaker is unique. Creating a text we use some common strategies, butthe outcome depends not only on the rules of language, but on many other factors related to the communicative situation, thepersonality of the speaker/author and the addressee.

II. What characteristics make the word the central unit? This question leads us to theproblem of defining the word. It is always hard to give definitions to basic elements, the wordbeing no exception.

A word is a unit of language that carries meaning and consists of one or more morphemeswhich are linked more or less tightly together. (Wikipeadia)Joanne Kenworthy in her book «Language in Action» gives a very interesting example of how children understand the phenomenonof «word».

«The teacher asked the children to try to make up as many words as they could from theletters in the word «orchestra».

James: I’ve got nine words!Teacher: Who can find another one?J: I’ve got! C-r-e-t.T: «cret»? «Cret» isn’t a word.J: Well.....no.... but I could make it mean something.T: Could you? Then would it be a word?J: Well ... if I told everybody what it meant.... yes.What essential characteristics of the word does this dialog reveal?

Irina Arnold defines the word as the basic unit of a given language resulting fromthe association of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of aparticular grammatical employment. As we can see, there are three facets to the word:semantic, grammatical and phonological. There are other definitions of the word. E.g.: A wordis a unit of language that carries meaning and consists of one or more morphemes which are linkedmore or less tightly together.

There are several criteria that are usually used to identity a word.1) the orthographic criteria: a word is a written sequence which has a white space at each

end but no white space in the middle. Ice cream. 2) The phonological criteria: a word is a piece of speech which behaves as a unit of

pronunciation. But the criteria for pronunciation vary from language to language. (Russian –English).

But, probably, a more productive way to understand what the word is, will be anattempt to make a list of its most important characteristics.

1 is the basic unit of language;2 is a unity of form and meaning;3 is composed of one or more morphemes;4 can enter syntactic structures;5 is an indivisible unit: cannot be cut into pieces without a disturbance of meaning (as a

molecule);6 is positionally mobile (permutable with other words in the same sentence);7 is internally stable (the order of its components cannot be rearranged);8 is separable (easily separated from other words in speech);9 possesses semantic integrity.

The last characteristic demands clarification. Let us once again compare the word and the

phrase. A dull storyan exciting storyan old story

work - erwrit - erreport - er

At first sight the components of these units are substitutable, but this not quite so. Why? Integrity is the most important characteristic of the word, which enabled Sapir to

compare the word with a molecule and Tsherba with a brick. The famous Russian scholar professor Smirnitsky in his theory of the word focused on

two major problems related to the integrity of the word: 1) the problem of separateness of theword (отдельность) and 2) the problem of identity of the word (тождества).

What is the word in segment of speech? Why is it easily separated from other words?As a unit of the vocabulary system the word is also the unity of all its forms and meanings.Most words in language are polysemantic (have more than one meaning). They reveal thesemeanings in different contexts. «John Smith gave me a book» and «John Smith gave us classes». These sentences present the word «give» in different meanings, but we stillrecognize the word as the same unit.

Each word has a certain paradigm of forms within which the speaker composingphrases and sentences can choose: «play-plays- played - playing». «She plays the piano» and«She played the piano» Each word is a unity of all its grammatical forms.

In the flow of speech we can come across similar sound combinations with the samemeaning which are not words. Let us compare: «nose» and the component «-nose-« in theword «long-nosed». The word «nose» can be used in the plural «noses», the component «-nose-» cannot.

1) The word is an entity. To understand the idea better we can refer to the dialogbetween James and his teacher: «if I told everybody what it meant». Different speakers usingthe same word of the same language can easily understand each other because they recognizethis combination of sound as a meaningful integral unit. The word as an entity is closelyconnected to its recurrence (frequent repetition) as a unity of form and meaning and to itsbeing part of the vocabulary system of language.

Often linguists use the term lexeme. The term has slightly different meanings in Russian andin English. In English: is an abstract unit and it must be represented in speech or writing by oneof the possibly several forms it can assume for grammatical purposes. In Russian: a lexeme isa word as unity of all its meanings. One form: one meaning = a lexical semantic variant.

Another important characteristic of the word is yet to be discussed. Words are arbitrarysigns. It means word forms bear no direct relations to their meanings. If they did, languageswould be more alike. According to Ferdinand do Saussure, the feature of arbitrarinessrepresents an essential characteristic of all real languages. Nevertheless, in all languages thereare clear cases of onomatopoeia - i.e., the occurance of imitative words, such as «whisper»,«snore», «slap», etc. Onomatopoeic words are rather similar in shape through differentlanguages: French «coucou», English «cuckoo», German «Kuckkuck» directly mimic the callof the bird. English «dingdong» and German «bimbam» share several sound features incommon that partially resemble the clanging of bells. This phenomenon is also called «soundsymbolism». These words, however, are a very small part of the vocabulary of any language.For by far the largest number of words in a language there is no direct association betweensound and meaning. English «horse», German «Pferd», Latin «equus», and Greek «hippos»are all unrelated to the animal so named. Vocabulary has to be largely arbitrary, because thegreater part of the world of man’s experience is not directly associated with any kind of noise,and it is a fact of history and biology that sound and not the material of some other sense is thebasis of human language.

But a word can be motivated as a unit of language, b y its relations with other units in the

system of language. Morphological motivation, semantic motivation. A word as a language unit can be looked at from three angles: semantic, syntactic and

pragmatic. The semantic facet of the word shows its connection to the real world. Thesyntactic facet shows a word in its connection with other words. The pragmatic facet showsthe link between the word and the user.

III. Considering the vocabulary of a language scholars focus on a few major domainswithin which all the most important issues can be examined. 1) Meaning of the word. There can be different approaches to the stratification of language as asystem. Stratification in terms of units has already been considered at the beginning of thelecture. In terms of linguistic universals the theory of language must embrace three domains:pragmatics (the study of the language user as such), semantics (the study of the elements of alanguage from the point of view of meaning), and syntax, the study of the formal interrelationsthat exist between the elements of a language in speech. Thus, certain authors speak of threelevels: the phonetic, the syntactic, and the semantic level. The word can be studied within eachof these domains. Lexicology, or the study of lexicon, except for borderline investigations,does not include pragmatic or syntactic matters in the sphere of its interests. It is the semanticlevel on which modern lexicology tries to find answers to the most important questions. Thesequestions are: «How is the meaning of words encoded in a language?», «How is the meaningto be determined?», «What are the laws governing change of meaning?». The last question is amatter of diachronic study, as it is concerned with the development of language. Synchronicstudy restricts its investigation to the state of a language at a given time.

Meaning as a key concept in linguistics is hard to define and can be viewed fromdifferent angles.

1) Relationships between words within the vocabulary system. They are different frominterrelationships between elements within a sentence, the former being systemic, orparadigmatic, the latter being linear or syntactic. John Lyons described the relationships ofwords with each other as a «web of words». Most of the them are sense relations, i.e., theyhave to do with meaning, others involve both meaning and form. As you can see, meaning isreally a focus of many investigations.

2) Another domain of vocabulary studies is the expansion of vocabulary. There twomajor ways of expanding the lexicon of a language: borrowing and word formation. Thematters related to borrowings vs. native words are examined by etymology, the branch oflinguistics that studies the origin of words. Word formation can be also regarded as a separatebranch of vocabulary studies, whose goal is to discover and make explicit various ways andpatterns of creating new words.

3) As a system vocabulary has several subsystems or areas. When we select words wemake choices within a certain area trying to convey our thoughts as adequately as possible. Wecan use more or less formal words, slang, or may need a term. We sometimes fail to find anappropriate word and we create a new one. The lexicon of any language can be described interms of different strata or groups of words. Such investigations often border on pragmatics,because our choice largely depends on the communicative situation.

4) And last, but not least, vocabulary studies include the sphere of set phrase, or idioms:fixed groups of words with a special meaning which is different from any meanings of theindividual words. In speech idioms behave as integral units which makes them similar towords.

Lecture 2. Etymology

Native words

Germanic settler tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians) entered Britain in AD 449onwards and displaced the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants. If we can assume that thelexicon reflects the preoccupations of the language users, we would not be surprised that theoriginal Anglo-Saxon lexicon is concerned about basic, down-to-earth matters. The Anglo-Saxons were originally not a settled group; there was a settled civilization, but not very literateor sophisticated.

Many of the words are still used today. Some are grammatical words (such as be, in,that) while others are lexical words (sing, live, go). Anglo-Saxon words are usually short andconcrete. Although Anglo-Saxon lexemes form only a relatively small proportion of themodern lexicon, in any passage of English, there is a relatively high density of Anglo-Saxon-derived lexemes, and indeed the 100 most frequently used items are almost all Anglo-Saxon(Crystal 1995: 125).

There are number of items that pertain to down-to-earth, everyday matters. Many of thewords that we described as ‘core’ earlier seem to be from Anglo-Saxon. These words are ofparts of the body (arm, bone, chest, ear, eye, foot, hand, heart), the natural environment (field,hedge, hill, land, meadow, wood), the domestic life (door, floor, home, house), the calendar(day, month, moon, sun, year), animals (cow, dog, fish, goat, hen, sheep, swine), commonadjectives (black, dark, good, long, white, wide) and common verbs (become, do, eat, fly, go,help, kiss, live, love, say, see, sell, send, think) (Jackson & Amvela 2000: 31). This is not tosay that the Germanic settlers were without poetry, music and culture; there were also someheroic components to Anglo-Saxon vocabulary.

Borrowings

Celtic borrowingsWhen the Anglo-Saxons took control of Britain, the original Celts moved to the northern

and western fringes of the island – which is why the only places where Celtic languages arespoken in Britain today are in the west (Welsh in Wales) and north (Scottish Gaelic in theScottish Highlands). Celtic speakers seem to have been kept separate from the Anglo-Saxonspeakers. Those who remained in other parts of Britain must have merged in with the Anglo-Saxons. The end result is a surprising small number – only a handful – of Celtic borrowings.Some of them are dialectal such as cumb (deep valley) or loch (lake). Reminders of Britain’sCeltic past are mainly in the form of Celtic-based placenames including river names such asAvon, ‘river’, Don, Exe, Severn and Thames. Town names include Dover, ‘water’, Eccles,‘church’, Kent, Leeds, London and York.

More recently, though, Celtic words were also introduced into English from Irish Gaelic– bog, brogue, blarney, clan, slogan, whisky.

Scandinavian borrowingsThe Scandinavian influence on Britain can be thought of in terms of three episodes.

Firstly, we can think of the period 750–1016 when the Vikings (Scandinavians) began attackingthe northern and eastern shores of Britain and settling in those parts of Britain. There was astate of enmity between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings, so unsurprisingly, not manyScandinavian borrowings took place; these include husbonda (husband) and lagu (law).

Secondly, we can consider the period 1016–1050, where the conditions were more orless similar to the earlier period, only that King Alfred the Great had succeeded in uniting theAnglo-Saxons and was actively promoting the English language. There were more borrowings,

including cnif (knife) and diegan (die). Finally, we have the period 1050–1480. The French-speaking Normans took over Britainin 1066, and both the English and Scandinavians were given the same fate and were subduedby the Normans. Naturally, the English and the Scandinavians come together and interact witheach other more closely. Therefore, a massive influence of the Scandinavian languages onEnglish, in both grammar and vocabulary. Unless you are a specialist, it is very difficult to pick out Scandinavian loan-words inEnglish. This is because they seem to have the same quality and texture as Anglo-Saxonwords. They are ordinary, everyday words, and quite often monosyllabic and includegrammatical words (like the verb are (to be), or the pronouns their, them and they and someof the commonest words in English today like bag, dirt, fog, knife, flat, low, odd, ugly, want,trust, get, give, take, raise, smile and though. A good number of sc- or sk- words today are ofScandinavian origin (scathe, scorch, score, scowl, scrape, scrub, skill, skin, skirt, sky).Scandinavian loan-words are therefore more usefully considered as core items. Why is this so?

The English and Scandinavian belong to the same Germanic racial, cultural and linguisticstock originally and their language, therefore, shared common grammatical features andwords. But changes had occurred in the languages during the couple of centuries ofseparation of the two sets of people.

The Scandinavians came to settle, rather than conquer or pillage. They lived alongside theAnglo-Saxons on more or less equal terms.

Under the Norman French, particularly, the two different groups fashioned a common lifetogether as subjects.

Under these conditions,(a) the English word sometimes displaced the cognate Scandinavian word: fish instead of fisk;goat instead of gayte;(b) the Scandinavian word sometimes displaces the cognate English word: egg instead of ey,sister instead of sweoster;(c) both might remain, but with somewhat different meanings: dike-ditch, hale-whole, raise-rise, sick-ill, skill-craft, skirt-shirt;(d) the English word might remain, but takes on the Scandinavian meaning dream (originally‘joy’, ‘mirth’, ‘music’, ‘revelry’); and(e) the English words that were becoming obsolete might be given a new lease of life, eg daleand barn.

French borrowingsThe Norman Conquest of 1066 left England as a trilingual country, although most people

would only speak one or two of the dominant languages. Latin was the language for recordkeeping, learning and the church. French was the language of the Norman aristocracy andtherefore also the language of prestige, government and polite social intercourse. English wasthe language of the common folk and menials. When the Normans took over England, they changed the language of government andthe court almost overnight and disregarded existing institutions. Instead, they took on almostwholesale institutions derived from France, including the feudal system which guaranteedstrong control by the king. There were three periods of French borrowings. The first, from about 1066 to 1250represents the height of Norman power. The language spoken by the Normans, known asNorman French (different from Central or Parisian French) was the language of the King’scourt, the nobles’ castles and the courts of law. Norman French was therefore the language ofhonour, chivalry and justice. Indeed, Matthew of Westminster said, ‘Whoever was unable to

speak French was considered a vile and contemptible person by the common people’ (1263).There were not many French borrowings, since English continues be used, largely in its

own, low-level arenas and French and English speakers were kept separate. The secondperiod, roughly from 1250 to 1400 represents the period of English-French bilingualism inindividuals (not just in the nation). The number of French loanwords ballooned in this period.Why was this?

Very briefly, this is what happened. In 1204, Normandy (in northern France, where theNormans came from) was acquired by the French king. Among other things, it meant that theNorman aristocracy in England couldn’t travel back and forth between their lands in Englandand France anymore. They had to choose whether they wanted to remain in England or inFrance. Those who remained in England began to see England as their home. This led to thereassertion of English as the language of the realm. Other reasons for the reassertion of Englishare:

the Normans in England belonged to the Capetian dynasty spoke Norman French; thisbecame non-prestigious in France as the variety spoken by the Angevian dynasty inFrance, Parisian French, became the prestige variety; because Norman French was seenas socially inferior, it was less difficult to abandon it in favour of English;

subsequently, England became at war with France in the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). Even as English was on its way in, the gaps in English vocabulary had to befilled by loanwords from French. These include items pertaining to new experiences andways of doing things introduced by the Normans. So whilst the English already hadkings, queens and earls, terms taken from French include count, countess, sire, madam,duke, marquis, dauphin, viscount, baron, chevalier, servant and master. Otherdomains that became enriched with French loanwords include:

Government: parliament, chancellor, government, country, crown Finance: treasure, wage, poverty Law: attorney, plaintiff, larceny, fraud, jury, verdict War: battle, army, castle, tower, siege, banner Religion: miracle, charity, saint, pardon Morality: virtue, vice, gentle, patience, courage, mercy, courtesy, pityRecreation: falcon, covert, scent, chase, quarryArt, fashion, etc.: apparel, costume, gown, art, beauty, colour, image, design, cushion,

tapestry Cuisine: stew, grill, roast, . . . (compare these with AS-based terms like bake), bacon,

mutton, pork, veal, venison (compare these with AS-based terms like boar, calf, cow,deer, ox, sheep, swine)

Household Relationships: uncle, aunt, nephew, cousin (form from OE: father, mother,brother and from Scandinavian sister)

The third period of French borrowings is from around 1400 onwards. The borrowings ofthe first two periods tend to be more elegant and sophisticated but yet not too far away fromthe core and several became quite nativised (dance, April, native, fine, line, punish, finish).These later borrowings were more, distant from the core, with attention being explicitly calledto their sophisticated, well-bred, cultivated, even arty ‘French’ texture: notice the spellings andpronunciations of some of these items: ballet, tableau, statuesque, cliché, motif, format,trousseau, lingerie, soufflé, hors d’oeuvre, rouge, etiquette.

Latin borrowingsLatin, being the language of the Roman Empire, had already influenced the language of

the Germanic tribes even before they set foot in Britain. Latin loanwords reflected the superiormaterial culture of the Roman Empire, which had spread across Europe: street, wall, candle,chalk, inch, pound, port, camp.

The native Celts had also learnt some Latin, and some of these were borrowed by theAnglo-Saxons in Britain: sign, pearl, anchor, oil , chest, pear, lettuce.

Latin was also the language of Christianity, and St Augustine arrived in Britain in AD 597to christianise the nation. Terms in religion were borrowed: pope, bishop, monk, nun, cleric,demon, disciple, mass, priest, shrine. Christianity also brought with it learning: circul, not(note), paper, scol (school), epistol.

Many Latin borrowings came in the early ME period. Sometimes, it is difficult to saywhether the loan-words were direct borrowings from Latin or had come in through French(because, after all, Latin was also the language of learning among the French). One greatmotivation for the borrowings was the change in social order, where scientific andphilosophical empiricism was beginning to be valued. Many of the new words are academic innature therefore: affidavit, apparatus, caveat, corpuscle, compendium, equilibrium, equinox,formula, inertia, incubate, momentum, molecule, pendulum, premium, stimulus, subtract,vaccinate, vacuum. This resulted in the distinction between learned and popular vocabulary inEnglish.

Greek borrowingsGreek was also a language of learning, and Latin itself borrowed words from Greek.

Indeed the Latin alphabet is an adaptation of the Greek alphabet. Many of the Greekloan-words were through other languages: through French – agony, aristocracy, enthusiasm,metaphor; through Latin – ambrosia, nectar, phenomenon, rhapsody. There were somegeneral vocabulary items like fantasy, cathedral, charismatic, idiosyncrasy as well as moretechnical vocabulary like anatomy, barometer, microscope, homoeopathy.

During the Renaissance and after, there were modern coinages from Greek elements(rather than borrowings). For example, photo- yielded photograph, photogenic, photolysis and photokinesis; bio- yielded biology, biogenesis, biometry, bioscope; tele- yielded telephone,telepathy, telegraphic, telescopic. Other Greek elements used to coin new words includecrypto-, hydro-, hyper-, hypo-, neo- and stereo-.

Other borrowingsAs a result of empire and trade contacts, the lexicon of English continued to acquire

terms from other languages including the following: American: racoon, coyote, prairie, wigwamAustralian: wallaby, kangaroo, boomerang Arabic: saffron, sequin, tamarind, alchemy, zenithPersian: naphtha, jasmine, chess, lilac Japanese: samurai, kimono Other Asian regions: avatar, yoga, stupa, karma, curry, bangle, chop, catamaran,

mandarin, ketchup, kowtow For users of English in England, America, the rest ofEurope, etc., these settle around periphery, not as learned words but as exotica.

Lecture 3. Word Meaning Goals: students will learn to

Look at word meaning from different perspectives;

Explain the differences in different theories of meaning;Look at word meaning as a structure;Analyze word meaning with the help of componential analysis.

1. In terms of linguistic universals the theory of language must embrace three domains:pragmatics (the study of the language user as such), semantics (the study of the elements of alanguage from the point of view of meaning), and syntax, the study of the formal interrelationsthat exist between the elements of a language in speech. The studies of lexicon, except forborderline investigations, do not include pragmatic or syntactic matters in their sphere ofinterests. It is the semantic level on which vocabulary studies try to find answers to the mostimportant questions. These questions are: «How is the meaning of words encoded in alanguage?», «How is the meaning to be determined?», «What are the laws governing change ofmeaning?», etc. (The last question is a matter of diachronic study, as it is concerned with thedevelopment of language. Synchronic study restricts its investigation to the state of a languageat a given time).

The definition of word meaning is by no means a simple task. E.g., Bloomfieldthought that semantics was the weak point in the scientific investigation of language, becausemeaning has always to do with the world of experience, and it is the task of other sciences todescribe the universe. In his textbook «Language» he defined the meaning of a linguistic formas «the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response which it calls forth in thehearer». Meaning of a word can be understood only by observing the situation (the event) inwhich the word was used. In his opinion, meaning can be defined in terms of stimulus -response, but the branches of linguistics which deal with communicative situation did not haveenough data. So, as he thought, linguistics should concentrate upon the directly observable andleave the exploration of «meaning» to other sciences. As a result, for some 30 years after thepublication of Bloomfield’s textbook, the study of meaning was almost wholly neglected byhis followers.

This approach to meaning is founded on the idea that words denote objects and, thus,meaning is reference (connection) to objects. That was oversimplification of relationshipsbetween language and the world of reality. Two words may denote the same object orphenomena, or, in other words, they may have the same referent, and have different meanings:«hurt» and «ache», «sunny» and «solar». Besides, in any language there are many words thatseem to have no referents: «although», or «however». In fact, the majority of words seemunable to be related to things, in any clear way.

Some scholars made an attempt to investigate meaning as the function of itsemployment. Not all words refer to something, they said, but what is common to all wordswithout exception, is that people use them in speech. Consequently, their meaning may benothing more than the restrictions, rules, and regularities that govern their employment. Tounderstand the role of a word in an utterance is to know its meaning. Ludwig Wittgensteinstressed in one of his works that «the meaning of a word is its use in the language».

All these ideas do not help us very much to understand the idea of meaning. Anotherproposal that attempts to solve the problem of definition of meaning is to say that words refernot to objects, but to notions, or concepts, or thoughts. For every word is an associatedconcept. There is a relationship of reference, but it is indirect. This indirect reference can bepresented with the help of a semiotic triangle (Ch. Ogden & I. Richards).

Reference indicates the realm of memory where recollections of past experiences andcontexts occur. Referent is the object that is perceived and that creates the impression stored in the thoughtarea.

Symbol is the word that calls up the referent through the mental processes of reference. The problem is that the content of a word is not identical to the content of the

corresponding concept or notion. There is no one-to-one correspondence. A concept is areflection in mind of real objects and phenomena in their essential features and relations. Butvery often it is difficult to identify it. We do not have neat visual images corresponding to everyword we say. The famous Russian linguist Ye. Kubryakova suggests that «a concept» beunderstood in a broader way: as a unity of all kinds of mental representations related to theword in a person’s mind: ideas, images, associations, etc.

Meaning is a conceptual (information) structure in an individual’s mind. It is a structureimposed on our knowledge about the object designated by the word, on the ideas, images,associations, which the word evokes in the minds of language speakers. Meaning is a mentalrepresentation that may be structured and organized in different ways.

A representation is not a copy or mental picture stored as such. Nothing can be everrepresented in full and faithful detail. People function and interact with their surroundings. Whatwe learn from experience is organized along several dimensions. The result of this work ofmind is different kinds of schemata. Another attempt to solve the problem is to switch semantic research from reference to sense,or to the way people relate words to each other within the framework of their language. Themeaning of a word can not be studied in isolation, without establishing links with other words,especially with those which are related to it in this or that way.

2. Although no satisfactory definition of «meaning» has yet been given, linguists haveidentified certain paths of semantic research.

The semantic structure of a word can analysed along the following lines.main vs. minor meanings;original meaning vs. derived meanings;denotative vs. connotative meaning;lexical vs. grammatical meaning;intensional vs. extensional meaning;dictionary vs. contextual meaning.

Denotative meaning is cognitive, it conceptualizes and classifies our experience. Ofcourse, any speaker may have his/her own idea of an object or phenomenon. Our idea of «thesun» ,e.g., is different from the idea of an astronomer, etc. However, all members of alanguage-speaking community share certain knowledge of the universe and there is more incommon in their mental representations than there differences.

Many words do not simply denote things or ideas, they express the speaker’s attitude tothem. Belyayevskaya distinguishes between three types of connotative meaning: emotional,evaluative and intensifying. A word may denote an affection, or feeling, and then the emotionalconnotation is intrinsic to its semantic structure. A word may acquire emotive componentsdue to frequent use in certain emotional situations. Evaluative connotation expresses approvalor disapproval («wicked»). Words that are used to exaggerate possess intensifyingconnotation. Each word has its own communicative value: when, where, how, by whom, inwhat context the word can be used. The employment of words depends on the communicativesituation (formal, informal), the social relationships between the interlocutors, the type andpurpose of communication. This is the pragmatic facet the meaning of a word.

Referential meaning can be intensional and extensional. Intensional meaning is the inherent concept that the word evokes (dictionary meaning)Extensional meaning is a set of entities that the word represents.1) Most words in a language have more than one meaning. Such words are called

polysemantic words, and the phenomenon itself is called polysemy. [So far we have used theterm «word» to discuss semantic units, but it is lexemes that we actually study. A lexeme is aunity all the grammatical forms of a word and a unity of its meanings. As most words in alanguage can have more than one grammatical form and more than one meaning, the termlexeme is more appropriate]. Polysemy can be the result of metaphor or metonymy.(examples). These mechanisms of creating new meanings can be viewed in terms ofmotivation. Motivation in linguistics is a relationship between the structural pattern of aword and its meaning. Morphological motivation is relationship between morphemes,phonetic motivation is a direct connection between the phonetic structure of s word and itsmeaning. Polysemy is viewed as semantic motivation. Polysemy can be studiedsynchronically or diachronically. A diachronic study will focus on the process of acquiringnew meanings. The first meaning in which the word appeared in a language is called «theprimary meaning», all the other meanings are secondary or derived. A synchronic study,which regards polysemy as coexistence of different meanings of the same word, will rely onthe comparative value of each individual meaning and on frequency of its occurrence inspeech. The meaning that occurs to us first when we hear or see the word is its basicmeaning. This is usually the most frequent meaning, too. This meaning is the first meaningin a dictionary entry.

Yu. Apresyan distinguishes between 3 types of polysemy: radial polysemy, all themeanings of a lexeme come from the same central meaning; chain polysemy, each new meaningis motivated by the previous one; mixed. How do we understand in which of its meanings is the word used? We rely on the context:linguistic and extralinguistic. Linguistic context can be lexical and grammatical.

2) A further way to study meaning is by analyzing lexemes into a series of semanticfeatures, or components. Man, e.g., could be analyzes as ADULT, HUMAN AND MALE.Whole systems of relationships can be established using a small set of components: ADULT/NON-ADULT, MALE/FEMALE, etc. (matrix)? It is not always easy to decide which are therelevant components of a lexeme and whether they can be presented in a binary way. Butbreaking down the meaning of a word into components often help understand the meaningbetter and establish important links between words. «School»: place.study; «hospital»:place.medical.treatment.

THINGS PEOPLE WEAR OR HUMAN ATTIRE

ATTIRE ENCIRCLE JEWELLERY WAIST WRIST NECK FINGERBELT + + - + - - -WAISTBAND + + - + - - -CUFF + + - - + - -COLLAR + + - - - + -NECKLACE + + + - - + -BRACELET + + + - + - -RING + + + - - - +NECKTIE + + - - - + -

Lecture 4. The Semantic Structure of the Lexicon

Goals: students will learn: To look at and analyze the lexical units as elements of a system;Explain the difference between different types of relations between lexical units in a

semantic field and in the system of lexicon.

The Theory of Semantic FieldsNo lexeme exists in isolation. As soon as we think “uncle”, a series of lexemes come to

mind. There is a network of meaning relationships which binds lexemes together. Each word issurrounded by a large number of connections.

Synatagmatic and paradigmatic relations. Some of them result from the way wordsoccur in sequences (syntagmatic relations), others from the way words can substitute for eachother (paradigmatic relations). Accordingly, there can be paradigmatic semantic fields andsyntagmatic semantic fields (Porzig), e.g. all the words that can go together with the word“hair”.

Psycholinguistic experiments prove that units of lexicon in the mind of a person areorganized and structured with the help of different relationships. Otherwise, it would beimpossible for a human being to interpret his/her experience and to attach meaning to it. Theoutside world itself is a web of complex self-organizing systems that have evolved specificinterrelationships and interactions. Besides, in order to be communicable, our knowledge hasto be structured in the verbal form.

A lexical semantic field can be defined as an aggregate of words and phrases which intheir meanings reflect the features of a particular area of experience, e.g.: “human body”,“sound”, “emotions”, etc. The units of lexical semantic fields are signs taken in the unity oftheir forms and meanings. Talking about semantic fields, we have to exclude the form of aword, and treat them as constellations of meanings.

Regardless of the way scholars define a (lexical) semantic field, they all identify a set ofits characteristic features. Let take a look at some of them.1. All units of a field are interrelated and interconnected. Mentioning one of them evokes awhole network of others in the mind of the listener. It means a field can be regarded as aspecific internal (endo) context which gives final shaping to the meaning of a linguistic unit. 2. The connections or correlations between the units of a field are of different types and ofdifferent nature, but they are systemic. 3. The semantic space in the mind of a person is a holistic reflection of his/her individualexperience. Semantic fields impose a certain order on the semantic space, but the latter remainscontinual. It means that the boundaries among semantic fields are fuzzy and they overlap.(examples).4. In different languages semantic fields whose units denote the same area of the outside worldcan be organized and structured in different ways:

Different degree of specification (snow in the Eskimo language, names of colors, kinshipterms);

Difference in the categorization of objects and phenomena of the real world (d’’irbal,gusuko, other languages);

Lacunas and gaps connected with differences in environment, cultural experience,worldview.

When a communicative act between two people takes place, the necessary semanticfields in their minds are activated. As a result, verbally shared meanings are generated. Butwhile they discuss, a new semantic field is created by the two speakers, which acts as aninterface. This new semantic field is reinforced by the inputs of from the two persons, linking

to more associated fields. Lexeme, lexical semantic variants.The importance of the semantic field theory for the work of a translator/interpreter. Let’s take the following line from Shakespeare’s sonnet:

“Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day?” Do you think it can be translated into Arabic wordfor word?How to deal with gaps and lacunas?

Types of connections between the units of a semantic field

The relations between lexical units on the semantic level are called sense relations.Synonymy. This is the relationship of sameness of meaning. In some contexts they can replaceeach other without changing the meaning of the sentence, but not always. There are very fewstrict or total synonyms. Transparency. Differences in denotative meanings: kill, murder, assassinate, execute. Some differences in meaning are a matter of style. An important factor is evaluative oremotional overtones a word may have. Synonyms can have different communicative value:“Commence” – “begin”, “receive” – “get”. In a context words can become contextualsynonyms; buy, get.Synonymic sets in different languages may be different. “selection” and “range”. Antonymy. This is the relationship of oppositeness of meaning. There are several kinds ofantonyms (transparency). The relationship of oppositeness is established on the basis of a common feature. Complimentary antonyms: open – closed.Gradable antonyms deal with things and qualities which are gradable and involve comparison.There are poles and there intermediate points on the scale. Boiling – hot – warm – cool – cold – freezing.Conversives (relational opposites) can be identified by the logical equivalence between twopropositions where the respective predicate lexemes are reversed:Howard gave Caroline a rose. Caroline received a rose from Howard. Directional opposites involve an opposition in direction with reference to some point: come –go, arrive – depart. Hyponymy and Taxonomies. Refers to the notion of inclusion: an X is a kind of Y.(examples) An oak is a kind of tree. There are taxonomies of natural, nominal and culturalkinds. Natural: animals, birds, etc. (can be different from the scientific classifications). Culturaltaxonomies relate to the artifacts created by human beings. The study of hyponymy has revealed some interesting differences between languages. Let uslook at the following example. Teen is a language spoken in Africa by tenbo people. In Teenthe word gusuko (plant) has three co-hyponyms: diilo (food plants), dansu (plants used formaking sauces) and waro (wild plants).Partonymy (part- whole relations): The parts of a human body: The parts of a door include the handle, the lock, the hinge, etc. Incompatibility. Under this heading are grouped sets of lexemes that are mutually exclusivemembers of the same superordinate category: a geometric figure cannot be a triangle andrectangle at the same time. A musical instrument cannot be a harp and a drum. But to beincompatible words have to belong to the same lexical group (we cannot say that “door” and“flower” are incompatible). One of the ways to analyze the semantic relationships within a fieldis componential analysis. Let’s analyze the word group “Human attire”. The semantic markers

are: “Attire” and “Encircle”. The distinguishers are: “Jewelry”, “Waist”, “Wrist”, “Neck”,“Finger”.Prototypical categories. A prototype is an idealized, internalized conceptualization of anobject, quality or activity. Real-life objects and activities are measured against these internalizedconcepts and are named according to how well they approximate the ideal. A prototypeapproach to semantics “seeks to represent the meaning of a linguistic expression through theanalysis of instances of the category in terms of approximation to the prototype”. E.g., thecategory of “bird” is identified in terms of a fixed set of conditions, but the best examples arethose that are close to an idealization of that category.

Theory of framesAccording to L. Vygotsky, language and thought merge on the level of meaning.

Meaning is an information (conceptual) structure in an individual’s mind. It is a structureimposed on our knowledge about the object designated by the word, on the ideas, images,associations, which this word evokes in the minds of language speakers. Meaning is a mentalrepresentation that may be structured and organized in different ways.

A mental representation is not a copy or mental picture stored as such. Nothing can beever represented in full and faithful detail. People function and interact with their surroundings.What we learn from experience is organized along several dimensions. Mental representationsexist as models: abstract domains (any conceptual complex that functions as a domain for thedefinition of a higher-order concept), schemas, frames, scenarios (scripts).

Schema is any cognitive structure that specifies the general properties of a type of objector event and leaves out any specification of details that are irrelevant to the type. A schema isan abstraction that allows particular objects or events to be assigned to general categories.

The conceptual schema for apples specifies general information about fruithood, shape,color, and so on, but it leaves out many characteristics of individual apples. The schemaabstracts away from the details in order to allow categorization. Some forms of schematizationare absolutely essential to intelligent information processing. A frame is a data-structure for representing our knowledge about an object, astereotyped situation, like being in a certain kind of living room, or an event, like going to achild's birthday party. Attached to each frame are several kinds of information.

A frame is a collection of slots and fillers that describe a stereotypical item. A frame hasslots to capture different aspects of what is being represented. The filler that goes into a slotcan be an actual value, a default value, an attached procedure, or even another frame.

Componential analysisThe analysis of vocabulary into a series of basic identifying features or ‘components' of

meaning, eg woman could be analysed using the components ‘female', ‘adult' and ‘human'.Words can be analyzed and described in terms of their semantic components, which

usually come in pairs called semantic oppositions: "Up" and "Down," for example, are relatedin that they both describe vertical directions, one in one direction (call it "plus") and the otherin the other (call it "minus"). There are several variations on these pairs, depending on howthey related to each other and how they can be used with other words. There are also sets ofwords that are variations on a single semantic theme, such as penny, nickel, dime, quarter, etc.

Componential analysis was proposed by Jerold Katz and Jerry Fodor in the 1960s.According to them semantic features can be classified into the following hierarchy:Grammatical markers, which describe the syntactic behavior of the item in terms of thesystem of grammatical categories: noun, abstract noun, etc.

Semantic markers describe the semantic features that are common for the items of the lexicalsemantic group as a structure: male, parent, sibling. Semantic distinguishers give the leftover of the semantic information, the features that makethis item unique. E.g. stepdaughter: - male < parent - blood relation.

Lecture 5. The Semantic Structure of the Word. Semantic Changes in Language.Cognitive Theories of Metaphor and Metonymy

Goals: students will learn:To differentiate between polysemy and homonymy;To explain the difference between the synchronic and diachronic view of some

homonyms;To explain the reason for polysemy in language;To look at word meaning from the diachronic perspective;To define different types of semantic changes;To define metaphor and metonymy as cognitive mechanisms and as means of creating

new meanings and expanding vocabulary

One of the most pervasive phenomena in natural language is that of ambiguity.Ambiguity describes the linguistic phenomenon whereby expressions are potentiallyunderstood in two or more ways; an ambiguous expression has more than one interpretation inits context: „Fine for parking“. There are three types of lexical ambiguity: polysemy,homonymy, and categorial ambiguity. Any practical natural language understanding systemmust be able to disambiguate words with multiple meanings, and the method used to do thismust necessarily work with the methods of semantic interpretation and knowledgerepresentation used in the system.

PolysemyPolysemy comes from Neo-Latin polysemia, which comes from Greek polusemous

[poly- (many) + sema (sign)] giving us a linguistic term, "having many meanings" or multiplemeanings. The words polysemy and polysemous are defined as "having or characterized bymany meanings; the existence of several meanings for a single word or phrase". As said earlier,these terms refer to "words" or other "items of language with two or more senses"; forexample, walk as in The child started to walk and They live at 213 Meadow Walk. Suchsenses may be more or less distant from one another: walk (action), walk (street) are relativelyclose, but crane (bird), crane (machine) are much further apart.

It is generally agreed that in each case only one word is being discussed, not two thathappen to have the same form (to which the name homonym is given). Senses of the sameword are seldom ambiguous in context, but the less specific the context, the greater thepossibility of ambiguity; for example, if someone who is looking at a picture says What bigcranes!, it may not be immediately clear to someone who can not see the picture whether thecomment refers to birds or machines.

The existence of polysemy has obvious dangers: it can make language rather slippery, sothat in the course of a piece of reasoning we may be led astray because a key word in ourargument is used with different meanings in different places. This often happens in political or

moral disputes, where words like freedom and natural get thrown around in ill-defined andshifting senses. On the other hand, the kind of "play" that polysemy gives to language makes iteasier to use: communication would really be too difficult if, in every utterance, we had topractice the strictness of definition demanded by mathematics or by symbolic logic. Ofcourse, reasoned demonstration is only one of the many functions of language; in some uses,polysemy plays an essential part, enabling us to achieve a complexity and a compression thatwould otherwise be impossible. The kind of impact Shakespeare produces in his major workswould be impossible without the richness given to the language by polysemy because everyword is clustered around with associations, derived from the different types of context inwhich it can be used.

Dictionaries treat cases of multiple meanings either as polysemy or as homonymy, but infact it is not always easy to decide which we are dealing with, and dictionaries sometimes differin their decisions. Are table (furniture) and table. (arrangement of data) two different words, orthe same word with two meanings? Dictionaries usually go for the latter solution, on thegrounds of a shared etymology. On the other hand, pupil (in school) and pupil (of the eye) areusually listed as different words; although in fact they have the same historical origin.

As you can see, there is often a conflict between historical criteria and present-dayintuition when sorting out cases of polysemy and homonymy.

In Cognitive Linguistics, polysemy is regarded as a categorizing phenomenon; i.e.,related meanings of words form categories centering around a prototype and bearing familyresemblance relations to one another. Under this polysemy = categorization view, the scope ofinvestigation has been gradually broadened from categories in the lexical and lexico-grammatical domain to morphological, syntactic, and phonological categories. The papers inthis volume illustrate the importance of polysemy in describing these various categories. A firstset of papers analyzes the polysemy of such lexical categories as prepositions and scalarparticles, and looks at the import of polysemy in frame-based dictionary definitions. A secondset shows that noun classes, case, and locative prefixes constitute meaningful and polysemouscategories. Three papers, then, pay attention to polysemy from a psychological perspective,looking for psychological evidence of polysemy in lexical categories.

HomonymyHomonyms are words which have the same form (orthographic/phonetic) but unrelated

meaning. If they only differ in one way they are called homophones and homographsrespectively. In derivation, homonym means "has the same name"; homophone means "has thesame sound"; homograph means "written the same".

There is a fish called a fluke, a part of a whale called a fluke and a stroke of luck called afluke, but these are three separate lexemes with separate etymologies that all happen to share oneform. Similarly, a river bank, a savings bank, and a bank of switches share only a spelling.

The first homonyms we ever learn are probably to, too and two (homophones), but thesentence "Too much to do in two days" would confuse no one. there, their, and they're arefamilar examples as well. lead the metal and lead the verb, or moped the motorized bicycle and moped the past tense of mope are examples of homographs.

In some accents, various sounds have merged in that they are no longer distinctive, andthus words that differ only by those sounds in an accent that maintains the distinction (a minimalpair) are homophonous in the accent with the merger. Some examples are pin and pen in manysouthern American accents, and merry, marry, and Mary in many western American accents.The pairs do, due and forward, foreword are homophonous in most US accents but not inmost British accents. Similarly, affect, effect are distinguished in some careful or cultivated

speech. Homograph disambiguation is critically important in Speech synthesis, but otherwise,

homonyms are mostly curiosities, of limited linguistic interest compared to the strongfunctional roles of antonyms and synonyms.

Homophones commonly confused in the English language:accept, except addition, edition affect, effect it's, its know, no sight, site their, there to, too, two won't want your, you're cache, cash

Change of meaningThe meaning of a word changes over time. The example everyone knows is gay, which

originally meant "merry", but because some people are a little too merry came to mean"wanton", and because some people are a little too wanton came to mean "homosexual",which is the sense almost exclusively used now.

At the simplest level, words do undergo only two types of meaning change, notamelioration and pejoration, but generalization (a word's meaning widens to include newconcepts), and specialization (a word's meaning contracts to focus on fewer concepts.

GeneralizationAlso known as extension, generalization is the use of a word in a broader realm of

meaning than it originally possessed, often referring to all items in a class, rather than onespecific item. For instance, place derives from Latin platea, "broad street", but its meaninggrew broader than the street, to include "a particular city", "a business office", "an areadedicated to a specific purpose" before broadening even wider to mean "area". In the process,the word place displaced (!) the Old English word stow and became used instead of the OldEnglish word stede (which survives in stead, steadfast, steady and -- of course -- instead).

The words “manage”, “arrive”.Specialization

The opposite of generalization, specialization is the narrowing of a word to refer to whatpreviously would have been but one example of what it referred to. For instance, the wordmeat originally referred to "any type of food", but came to mean "the flesh of animals asopposed to the flesh of fish". The original sense of meat survives in terms like mincemeat,"chopped apples and spices used as a pie filling"; sweetmeat, "candy"; and nutmeat, "theedible portion of a nut". When developing your model language, it is meet to leave compoundsuntouched, even if one of their morphemes has undergone specialization (or any other meaningchange).

The words “starve”, “liqour”. Word Old Meaning

affection "emotion"deer "animal"forest "countryside"girl "a young person"starve "to die"

Pejoration is the process by which a word's meaning worsens or degenerates, comingto represent something less favorable than it originally did. Most of the words in Suffield'spoem have undergone pejoration.

For instance, the word silly begins Suffield's poem and meant in Old English times"blessed", which is why Suffield calls his poem a beatitude (Christ's beatitudes begin with"blessed are the..."). How did a word meaning "blessed" come to mean "silly"? Well, sincepeople who are blessed are often innocent and guileless, the word gradually came to mean"innocent". And some of those who are innocent might be innocent because they haven't thebrains to be anything else. And some of those who are innocent might be innocent becausethey knowingly reject opportunities for temptation. In either case, since the more worldly-wisewould take advantage of their opportunities, the innocents must therefore be foolish, which ofcourse is the current primary meaning of the word silly.

Amelioration is the process by which a word's meaning improves or becomes elevated,coming to represent something more favorable than it originally referred to.

In what for Suffield is the greatest example of amelioration, the early Old English wordhláfweard, which if translated using its descendant words would be rendered loafward, meant"the keeper of the bread" and was applied to the head of a household. Although "keeper of thebread" might bear witness to the importance of that most basic of foodstuffs to early Anglo-Saxons, alternatively one might argue that it had no more literal sense than bread- does in themodern word breadwinner. The word hláfweard has been shortened over time, first tohláford and then to lord. Over time, the word has been used of not just any head of householdbut of princes and nobility; this sense was extended to include the Prince of Light, God.

The word “enthisuasm”.

Mechanisms:

Metaphor: Grace Murray Hopper, the late Admiral and computer pioneer, told a story of an early

computer that kept calculating incorrectly. When technicians opened up its case to examine thewiring, which physically represented the machine's logic, a huge dead moth was found,shorting out one of the circuits and causing the faulty logic. That moth was the first of its kindto achieve immortality. Because of it, software is now frequently plagued with "bugs".

The use of bug to refer to an error in computer logic was a metaphorical extension thatbecame so popular that it is now part of the regular meaning of bug. The computer industryhas a host of words whose meaning has been extended through such metaphors, includingmouse for that now ubiquitous computer input device (so named because the cord connectingit to the computer made it resemble that cutest of rodents).

Metaphorical extension is the extension of meaning in a new direction through popularadoption of an originally metaphorical meaning. The crane at a construction site was given itsname by comparison to the long-necked bird of the same name. When the meaning of theword daughter was first extended from that of "one's female child" to "a female descendant"

(as in daughter of Eve), the listener might not have even noticed that the meaning had beenextended.

Metaphorical extension is almost a natural process undergone by every word. We don'teven think of it as meaning change. In its less obvious instances, we don't even see it asextending the meaning of a word. For example, the word illuminate originally meant "to lightup", but has broadened to mean "to clarify", "to edify". These meanings seem so natural as tobe integral parts of the words, where senses such as "to celebrate" and "to adorn a page withdesigns" seem like more obvious additions.

Metonymy: to win used to mean to fight.

RadiationRadiation is metaphorical extension on a grander scale, with new meanings radiating

from a central semantic core to embrace many related ideas. The word head originally referredto that part of the human body above the rest. Since the top of a nail, pin or screw is, like thehuman head, the top of a slim outline, that sense has become included in the meaning of head.Since the bulb of a cabbage or lettuce is round like the human head, that sense has becomeincluded in the meaning of head. Know where I'm headed with this? The meaning of the wordhead has radiated out to include the head of a coin (the side picturing the human head), thehead of the list (the top item in the list), the head of a table, the head of the family, a head ofcattle, $50 a head. But I'll stop while I'm ahead.

Contextual specializationThe word undertaker originally meant "one who undertakes a task, especially one who is

an entrepreneur". This illustrates contextual specialization, where the meaning of a word isreshaped under pressure from another word that had frequently co-occured with it: thusundertaker acquired its meaning from constant use of the phrase funeral undertaker;eventually, under the pressure towards euphemism, the word funeral was dropped.

Another example of contextual specialization is doctor, which originally meant "ateacher" and then later "an expert", where it came to be used in the phrase medical doctor;now of course this is redundant and medical is omitted, with the primary sense of doctorhaving become more specialized.

History of semantic changeIf the history of semantic change had to be summed up as one process, it would be that

of specialization. The Anglo Saxons 1500 years ago made do with perhaps 30,000 words intheir complete vocabulary, while Modern English has anywhere from 500,000 to a millionwords, depending on whether or not scientific vocabularies are included.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God."It could be argued that originally there was one word, from which all others have sprung. Theorigins of language will never be known, but the first language probably had a vocabulary of afew hundred words, providing a rich enough vocabulary for a primitive people who had fewmaterials and fewer abstract concepts. Many of the words of the first languages had verybroad senses of meaning.

For instance, the word inspire is from the Latin inspirare, which literally means "tobreathe into". Its archaic meaning is "to breathe life into", with newer meanings like "to be thecause of", "to elicit", "to move to action", "to exalt" and "to guide by divine influence". Now ifa minister were to speak of Adam as dust inspired, he might mean by that not just that the dustis having life breathed into it (the original etymological meaning), but also that the dust is beingexalted and given form, that it is being moved to action, and that it is being divinely guided(these are the metaphorical or extended meanings). In other words, this minister might not

mean just one of the definitions of inspired but all of them simultaneously.

LECTURE 6. Cognitive Theories of Metaphor and Metonymy

Goals: students will learnTo define metaphor and metonymy as cognitive mechanisms and as means of creating

new meanings and expanding vocabulary;To explain the cognitive mechanisms of creating new meanings with the help of metaphor

and metonymy.

“We live our lives on the basis of inferences we derive via metaphor” [G. Lakoff,M. Johnson]

Metaphor is defined as the substitution of one idea or object with another, used to assistexpression or understanding.

Sheldon Kopp states:A metaphor is defined as a way of speaking in which one thing is expressed in terms of

another, whereby this bringing together throws new light on the character of what is beingdescribed.

The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms ofanother

Metaphor is a natural element of language that helps us understand new and/orabstract concepts and construct new conceptual domains. E.g. The word “memory” inthe meaning “a device in a computer designed to accept, store and recall information;storage capacity of a computer, a disk, etc.” helps us understand (probably in a veryapproximate way) how it works.

Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, isfundamentally metaphorical in nature. Conceptual metaphor is a natural part of human thought,and linguistic metaphor is a natural part of human language. We make connections betweenthings by finding some form of commonality they may have. This simple process starts at anearly age in life, usually with physically similar items, for example: a child may use a box as ahouse, or a cat may use a ball of yarn as a mouse. They tend to be pre-linguistic and makebasic assumptions regarding space, time, moving, controlling, and other core elements ofhuman experience.

The processes which are involved in the generation and comprehension of metaphorarise naturally out of the workings of the cognitive system as a whole. Metaphor is central tothe workings of both our language and general cognitive faculties. Metaphor is at the root ofour creative powers, serving a cognitive function. It organizes our memories and shapes ourexperience. A great deal of everyday conventional language is metaphorical.

I’m crazy about her. She drives me out of my mind. (Love is madness)

Metaphor allows us to view one concept through the lens of another, and thereby structure andunderstand one domain in terms of another. It is necessary because some spheres ofexperience are better manifested in language and are easier to understand. Very often metaphors relate conceptual structures to sensory experience of the world.

Metaphors arise from correlations in our embodied experience. Giving names to abstractdomains we use the logic of our sensory-motor experience. E.g., G.Lakoff and M. Johnsonexplain that the metaphor Affection is Warmth (warm feelings) arise from the commonexperience of a child being held affectionately by a parent.

The structure of metaphorA metaphor, according to I. A. Richards in The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936), consists of

two parts: the tenor and vehicle. The tenor is the subject to which attributes are ascribed. Thevehicle is the subject from which the attributes are borrowed.

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players They have their exits and their entrances; — (William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2/7) This well known quote is a good example of a metaphor. In this example, "the world" is

compared to a stage, the aim being to describe the world by taking well-known attributes fromthe stage. In this case, the world is the tenor and the stage is the vehicle. "Men and women" area secondary tenor and "players" is the vehicle for this secondary tenor.

The metaphor is sometimes further analysed in terms of the ground and the tension. Theground consists of the similarities between the tenor and the vehicle. The tension of themetaphor consists of the dissimilarities between the tenor and the vehicle. In the aboveexample, the ground begins to be elucidated from the third line: "They all have their exits andentrances". In the play, Shakespeare continues this metaphor for another twenty lines beyondwhat is shown here - making it a good example of an extended metaphor.

The corresponding terms to 'tenor' and 'vehicle' in George Lakoff's terminology are targetand source. In this nomenclature, metaphors are named using the convention "target ISsource", with the word "is" always capitalized; in this notation, the metaphor discussed abovewould state that "humankind IS theater".

Empirical research gives evidence of systematic polysemy in language. Becausethe metaphoric concept is systematic, the langugae we use to talk about that aspect of theconcept is systematic.

Time is money.This gadget will save you hours.I don’t have the time to give you.How do you spend your tim e these days?I’ve invested a lot of time in her.You need to budget your time.He’s living on borrowed time.Is that worth your while?A mapping is the systematic set of correspondences that exist between constituent

elements of the source and the target domain. Many elements of target concepts come fromsource domains and are not preexisting. To know a conceptual metaphor is to know the set ofmappings that applies to a given source-target pairing. The same idea of mapping betweensource and target is used to describe analogical reasoning and inferences.

Conceptual metaphors typically employ a more abstract concept as target and a moreconcrete or physical concept as their source. For instance, metaphors such as 'the days [themore abstract or target concept] ahead' or 'giving my time' rely on more concrete concepts,thus expressing time as a path into physical space, or as a substance that can be handled andoffered as a gift.

Metaphor is deeply ingrained in culture, and actively colors the way we act withother people [T. Veale]. The most fundamental values in a culture will be coherent withthe metaphorical structure of the most fundamental concepts in the culture [G. Lakoff,

M. Johnson]. Much of our understanding of metaphysical abstractions such as time, emotion, and

inter-personal relationships are grounded in our metaphors of space. For instance, Lakoff &Johnson (1980) and Veale & Keane (1992a.b) outline a variety of highly productive spatialmetaphors which are shown to underlie a host of abstractions, such as health, marriage,divorce, kinship terms and corporate relations. According to Lakoff and Johnson, e.g., the“UP-Down” metaphor in American culture is associated with evaluation in terms of “Good -Bad”. E.g. HAPPY IS UP; SAD IS DOWNMy spirits rose. You’re in high spirits. I’m feeling up. I’m feeling down. I fell into depression.My spirits sank.

A metaphor is a system of concepts, a many-faceted productive schema whichoffers a combination of related perspectives on the same domain.

Types of metaphorAn extended metaphor is one that sets up a principal subject with several subsidiary

subjects or comparisons. The above quote from As you like it is a good example. Theworld is described as a stage and then men and women are subsidiary subjects that arefurther described in the same context. (This can be extended to humorous lengths as inBlack Adder eg. "This is a crisis. A large crisis. In fact, if you've got a moment, it's atwelve-storey crisis with a magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hourporterage and an enormous sign on the roof, saying 'This Is a Large Crisis'.")

A dead metaphor is one in which the sense of a transferred image is not present.Example: "to grasp a concept" or "to gather you've understood." Both of these phrasesuse a physical action as a metaphor for understanding (itself a metaphor), but in none ofthese cases do most speakers of English actually visualize the physical action. Deadmetaphors, by definition, normally go unnoticed. Some people make a distinctionbetween a "dead metaphor" whose origin most speakers are entirely unaware of (such as"to understand" meaning to get underneath a concept), and a dormant metaphor, whosemetaphorical character people are aware of but rarely think about (such as "to break theice"). Others, however, use dead metaphor for both of these concepts, and use it moregenerally as a way of describing metaphorical cliché.

An active (living) metaphor is one which by contrast to a dead metaphor, is not part ofdaily language and is noticeable as a metaphor. Example: "You are my sun."

An absolute or paralogical metaphor (sometimes called an antimetaphor) is one inwhich there is no discernible point of resemblance between the idea and the image.Example: "The couch is the autobahn of the living room."

A compound or loose metaphor is one that catches the mind with several points ofsimilarity. Example: "He has the wild stag's foot." This phrase suggests grace and speedas well as daring.

An implicit metaphor is one in which the tenor is not specified but implied. Example:"Shut your trap!" Here, the mouth of the listener is the unspecified tenor.

A simple or tight metaphor is one in which there is but one point of resemblancebetween the tenor and the vehicle. Example: "Cool it". In this example, the vehicle,"cool", is a temperature and nothing else, so the tenor, "it", can only be grounded to thevehicle by one attribute.

MetonymyCreating metonymy we use one entity to refer to another that is related to it. Metonymy

is using one entity to refer to another that is related to it. Metonymic concepts allow us toconceptualize one thing by means of its relation to something else. When we think of a Picassowe are not just thinking of a work of art alone. We think of it in terms of its relation to theartist, that is, his conception of art, his technique, etc. Thus, like metaphors, metonymicconcepts structure not just our language but our thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

Metaphor’s primary function is understanding. The function of metonymy is referential,it allows us to use one entity to stand for another. But is also serves the function of providingunderstanding. Which part of the whole we used determines which aspect of the whole we arefocusing on.

Metonymic concepts are also systematic. (examples).The part for the whole (synecdoche)We need some good heads on the project. Producer for productHe bought a Ford.The place for the institutionThe White House isn’t saying anything. Object for the userThe buses are on strike

The grounding of metonymic concepts in our experience is even more obvious: itinvolves direct physical or causal associations. Cultural and religious symbolisms are specialcases of metonymy. E.g.: Dove for Holy Spirit.

Lecture 7. WORD FORMATIONWord formation is a set of mechanisms used for the creation of new words. There are a

number of processes that can cause the formation of a new word. These include:Derivation. Affixation

In linguistics, derivation is the process of creating new lexemes from other lexemes, for example, by adding a derivationalaffix. It is a kind of word formation.

Derivational affixes usually apply to words of one syntactic category and change them into words of another syntacticcategory. For example, the English derivational suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly).

Some examples of English derivational suffixes: adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness) adjective-to-verb: -ize (modern → modernize) noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational) noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify) verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable) verb-to-noun: -ance (deliver → deliverance)

Derivational affixes do not necessarily modify the syntactic category; they can also modify the meaning. For example, thederivational prefix un- applies to adjectives (healthy → unhealthy), some verbs (do → undo), but rarely nouns. In many cases,derivational affixes change both the syntactic category and the meaning: modern → modernize ("to make modern").

Note that derivational affixes are bound morphemes. In that, derivation differs from compounding, by which free morphemesare combined (lawsuit, Latin professor). It also differs from inflection in that inflection does not change a word's syntactic categoryand creates not new lexemes but new word forms (table → tables; open → opened).

Derivation may occur without any change of form, for example telephone (noun) and to telephone. This is known asconversion. Some linguists consider that when a word's syntactic category is changed without any change of form, a null morphemeis being affixed.

A typical derivational relation among lexemes is the formation of adjectives likeinflatable from verbs (inflate). In this case, the meaning of the adjective is quite systematicallyrelated to that of the verb: verb-able means ‘capable of being verb-ed’. It is therefore temptingto say that English contains an element –able with that meaning, which can simply be addedto verbs to yield adjectives. The facts are a bit more complex that that, though.

For one thing, the related adjective may not always be just what we would get by putting the two pieces together. Forinstance, navigate yields navigable, formulate yields formulable, etc. These are instances of truncation, where a part of the base isremoved as an aspect of the word formation process. Then there are cases such as applicable from apply, where we see the samevariation (or allomorph) in the shape of the stem as in application. These patterns show us that the derivational whole may be more

than the simple sum of its parts.

When we consider the class of adjectives in –able (or its spelling variant –ible), we find a number of forms like credible,eligible, potable, probable,… which seem to have the right meaning for the class (they all mean roughly ‘capable of being[something]-ed’), but the language does not happen to contain any verb with right form and meaning to serve as their base. Thissuggests that derivational patterns have a sort of independent existence: they can serve as (at least partial) motivation for the shapeand sense of a given lexeme, even in the absence of the possibility of deriving that lexeme from some other existing lexeme. In someinstance, the force of this analysis is so strong that it leads to what is called back-formation: thus, the word editor was originallyderived from Latin e:dere ‘to bring forth’ plus –itor, but it fit so well into the pattern of English agent nouns in –er (e.g., baker,driver) that a hypothetical underlying verb edit actually became part of the language.

We may also notice that some –able forms do not mean precisely what we might predict. Thus, comparable means `roughlyequal’, not just ‘able to be compared’. In the world of wine, drinkable comes to mean ‘rather good’, not just ‘able to be drunk’, etc.This shows us that even though these words may originally arise through the invocation of derivational patterns, the results are infact full-fledged words of the language; and as such, they can undergo semantic change independent of the words form which theywere derived. This is the same phenomenon we see when the word transmission, originally referring to the act or process oftransmitting (e.g., energy from the engine to the wheels of a car) comes to refer to a somewhat mysterious apparatus which makesstrange noises and costs quite a bit to replace.

Finally, we can note that in some cases it is not at all evident how to establish a ‘direction’ of derivation.

When a word in either class is used in the other, the result is to bring out the additional meaning associated with the class,but there is no inherent directionality to this relationship. The possibility of back formation discussed above suggests that thisinterpretation of derivational relationships as fundamentally symmetrical may be applicable even to cases where the formal directionof derivation seems obvious.

Lecture 8. Conversion

In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation, is a kind of word formation; specifically, it is the creation of a wordfrom an existing word without any change in form. Conversion is more productive in some languages than in others; in English it is afairly productive process.

Often a word of one lexical category (part of speech) is converted from a word of another lexical category; for example, thenoun green in golf (referring to a putting-green) is derived ultimately from the adjective green. Conversions from adjectives to nounsand vice versa are both very common and unnotable in English; much more remarked upon is verbing, the creation of a verb by aconverting a noun or other word.Definition, terminology and characteristics

"Conversion is the derivational process whereby an item changes its word-class without the addition of an affix"(Quirk, Randolph and Greenbaum, 1987: 441). Thus, when the noun 'sign' (1) shifts to the verb 'sign(ed)' (2) without anychange in the word form we can say this is a case of conversion1. However, it does not mean that this process takesplace in all the cases of homophones (Marchand, 1972: 225). Sometimes, the connection has to do with coincidences orold etymological ties that have been lost.. For example, 'mind' (3 and 4) and 'matter' (5 and 6) are cases of thisgrammatical sameness without connection by conversion—the verbs have nothing to do today with their respective nounforms in terms of semantics (ibid.: 243).

Conversion is particularly common in English because the basic form of nouns and verbs is identical in manycases (Aitchison, 1989: 160). It is usually impossible in languages with grammatical genders, declensions orconjugations (Cannon, 1985: 430).

The status of conversion is a bit unclear. It must be undoubtedly placed within the phenomena of word-formation; nevertheless, there are some doubts about whether it must be considered a branch of derivation or aseparate process by itself (with the same status as derivation or compounding) (Bauer, 1983: 32).

Despite this undetermined position in grammar, some scholars assert that conversion will become even moreactive in the future because it is a very easy way to create new words in English (Cannon, 1985: 415). There is noway to know the number of conversions appearing every day in the spoken language, although we know this numbermust be high (ibid.: 429). As it is a quite recent phenomenon, the written evidence is not a fully reliable source. Wewill have to wait a little longer to understand its whole impact, which will surely increase in importance in the nextdecades.

The terminology used for this process has not been completely established yet. The most usual terms are'conversion', because a word is converted (shifted) to a different part of speech; and 'zero-derivation', because theprocess is like deriving (transferring) a word into another morphological category with a zero-affix creating asemantic dependence of one word upon another (Quirk, 1997: 1558). This would imply that this affix exists—because it is grammatically meaningful—although it cannot be seen (Arbor, 1970: 46). Other less frequently used

terms are 'functional shift', 'functional change' or 'zero-marked derivative' (Cannon, 1985: 412), denominations thatexpress by themselves the way the process is considered to happen.

Conversion is extremely productive to increase the English lexicon because it provides an easy way to createnew words from existing ones. Thus, the meaning is perfectly comprehensible and the speaker can rapidly fill ameaningful gap in his language or use fewer words (Aitchison, 1989: 161). "Conversion is a totally free process andany lexeme can undergo conversion into any of the open form classes as the need arises" (Bauer, 1983: 226). Thismeans that any word form can be shifted to any word class, especially to open classes—nouns, verbs, etc.—and thatthere are not morphological restrictions. Up to date, there has only been found one restriction: derived nouns rarelyundergo conversion (particularly not to verbs) (Bauer, 1983: 226). This exception is easily understood: if therealready exists one word in the language, the creation of a new term for this same concept will be blocked for theeconomy of language. For example, the noun 'denial' (7) will never shift into a verb because this word already derivesfrom the verb 'deny' (8). In that case, the conversion is blocked because 'to deny' (8) and '*to denial' would meanexactly the same. However, there are some special cases in which this process seems to happen without blocking.This can be exemplified in the noun 'sign' (1), converted into the verb 'to sign' (2), changed by derivation (suffixation)into the noun 'signal' (9) and converted into a new verb, 'to signal' (10). In this case there is no blocking because thesewords have slight semantic differences (Bauer, 1983: 226-227).

It must be pointed out that the process of conversion has some semantic limitations: a converted word onlyassumes one of the range of meanings of the original word. For example, the noun 'paper' has various meanings, suchas "newspaper" (11), "material to wrap things" (12)... The denominal verb, though, only contains the sense of puttingthat material on places like walls. This shows the converted item has only converted part of the semantic field of thesource item.

TypologyThere are many cases in which the process of conversion is evident. Nevertheless, conversion is not as simple

as it may seem: the process is easily recognisable because both words are graphically identical; the direction of thisprocess, though, is sometimes nearly impossible to determine. This is not very important for the speaker: he just needsa simple way to cover a gap in the language. As this paper tries to give a comprehensive vision on conversion, it willattempt to establish the direction of the process. Therefore, both the original category and the derived one will bementioned.

The criterion to establish the original and derived item has been taken from Marchand (1972: 242-252). It focuses onseveral aspects:

a. the semantic dependence (the word that reports to the meaning of the other is the derivative)

b. the range of usage (the item with the smaller range of use is the converted word),

c. the semantic range (the one with less semantic fields is the shifted item)

d. and the phonetic shape (some suffixes express the word-class the item belongs to and, if it does not fit, this is thederivative). After this analysis, intuition is still important. Verbs tend to be abstract because they represent actions and nouns arefrequently concrete because they name material entities. Conversion is quickly related to shift of word-class. With thisrespect, it mainly produces nouns, verbs and adjectives. The major cases of conversion are from noun to verb and fromverb to noun. Conversion from adjective to verb is also common, but it has a lower ratio. Other grammatical categories,including closed-class ones, can only shift to open-class categories, but not to closed-class ones (prepositions,conjunctions). In addition, it is not rare that a simple word shifts into more than one category.

3.1 Conversion from verb to noun We shall first study the shift from verb to noun. It can be regarded from seven different points of view (Quirk, 1997: 1560).

These subclassifications are not well defined in many cases. The same pair of converted words can be placed into two differentcategories depending on the subjectivity of their meaning. Nouns coming from verbs can express state of mind or state of sensation,like in the nouns 'experience' (13), 'fear' (14), 'feel' (15) or 'hope' (16). Nouns can also name events or activities, such is the case of'attack' (17), 'alert(s)' (18) and 'laugh(s)' (19). The object of the verb from which the noun is derived can be observed in 'visit' (20) (withthe sense of that which visits), 'increase' (21) (that which increases), 'call' (22) and 'command' (23). In the fourth division the nounrefers to the subject of the original verb. Examples of this kind are 'clone' (24) (the living being that is cloned), 'contacts' (25) or 'judge'(26). Other nouns show the instrument of the primitive verb, like in 'cover' (27) (something to cover with) and 'start' (28). Finally, aplace of the verb can also be nominalised, like in 'turn' (29) (where to turn) or 'rise' (9). 3.2 Conversion from noun to verb

Verbs converted from nouns have also many subclassifications (Quirk, 1997: 1561). They can express the action of puttingin or on the noun, such as in pocket(ed) (30) (to put into the pocket), 'film(ing)' (31) (to put into a film) and 'practice' (32). These verbscan also have the meaning of "to provide with (the noun)" or "to give (the noun)", like 'name' (33) (to give a name to somebody),'shape' (34) (to give shape to something) or 'fuel(s)' (35). The verbs belonging to the third division will express the action done with

the noun as instrument. It can be exemplified with 'hammer' (36) (to hit a nail by means of a hammer), 'yo-yo' (37) (to play with a yo-yo) 'dot' (38) or 'brake' (braking) (39). Another group of verbs has the meaning of to act as the noun with respect to something, asexemplified in 'host(ed)' (40) (to act as the host of a house). Other subclassification has the sense of making something into theoriginal noun, like in 'schedule(d)' (41) (to arrange into a schedule) and 'rule' (42). The last group means to send by means of thenoun, that is the case of 'ship(ped)' (43) or 'telephone(d)' (44) (in an abstract sense). 3.3 Conversion from adjective to verb

Adjectives can also go through the process of conversion, especially to verbs. De-adjectival verbs get the meaning of "tomake (adjective)". It can be easily seen by means of examples like 'black(ed)' (45) (to make black), 'open' (46), 'slow(ing)' (47)... In somecases, when these transitive verbs are used intransitively, a secondary conversion may happen (Quirk, 1997: 1561-1562), as it will beexplained later on. 3.4 Conversion from a closed category to any other category

Closed-class categories can also undergo conversion. Although their frequency is much less common, the process is notungrammatical. All morphologic categories have examples of this kind (Cannon, 1985:425-426). Prepositions are probably the mostproductive ones. They can easily become adverbs, nouns and verbs. This is the case of 'up' (48 and 49) and 'out' (37 and 50).Conversion to noun may as well occur in adverbs like in 'outside' (51) and 'inside' (51); conjunctions, as regarded in 'ifs' (52) and 'buts'(52); interjections and non-lexical items, like 'ho ho ho's' (53) and 'ha ha ha' (54); affixes such as 'mini-' (55) can appear as noun (56)and proper noun (55).... Conversion to verb is frequent in onomatopoeic expressions like 'buzz' (57), 'beep' (57) or 'woo(ing)' (58).Finally, phrase compounds can appear as adjectives, such as in 'borrow-the-mower' (59), 'down-to-earth' (60) or 'now-it-can-be-told'(61).3.5 Conversion from noun to adjective

There are some clues, though, to make sure conversion has taken place. In the case of adjectives coming from nouns, thehints are quite easy: they can be considered as cases of conversion only when they can appear in predicative as well as in attributiveform. If the denominal adjective can be used attributively, we can affirm conversion has happened. If it can only appear predicatively,it is merely a case of partial conversion. 'Mahogany music box' (62) can be used in an attributive way, "the music box is mahogany".This implies 'mahogany' is a denominal adjective. However, in the predicative phrase 'antiques dealers' (63) we cannot treat 'antiques'as an adjective because the attributive form of this expression is ungrammatical (*dealers are antique). Another way to make sure weare in front of a case of conversion is to change a word for another similar one. For example, in 'Dutch Auction' (64) we are sure theword 'Dutch' is an adjective because it has the specific form of adjective. Therefore, in 'South Jersey Auction' (65) or 'Texas Auction'(66) we can affirm these are cases of denominal adjectives. 3.6 Conversion from adjective to noun

Adjectives can also shift into nouns, though it is not very frequent. It mainly happens in well-established patterns ofadjective plus noun phrase. Nominalisation occurs when the noun is elided and the adjective is widely used as a synonym of anexisting set pattern. This could be the case of 'a Chinese favorite' (67).

The adjective nature in cases of partial conversion is evident, though. They are nouns from the point of view that theyappear in the same syntactic position. Their grammatical nature, though, is a different one. These adjectives can still be changed tothe comparative and superlative form (adjective nature). This can be exemplified in 'worst' (68) and 'merrier' (69). However, theseadjectives cannot behave as nouns: if their number or case is changed, they will produce ungrammatical sentences. This can be seenin the case of 'more' (69) in cases like "*the mores we get". If the '-s' for the plural is added to any of these items, we would getungrammatical sentences. The case of 'cutie' (70), though, could be argued. It seems to be much used and established within certaingroups. This could have converted it into a lexicalised example of adjective to noun.

CompoundingCompounding is a way of creating new words by combining two or more derivational bases. The result of the process is a

compound (word). It functions as a single item, has its own meaning and grammar. But not all words that consist of two roots are aresult of pure compounding. Sometimes compounding is accompanied by affixation and conversion (a compound derivative),sometimes compound words add affixes later, and sometimes a compound word is converted into another part of speech. It issometime hard to tell one process from another.

Look at the following words and try to identify the mechanisms of word formation that were used.Price-reduction a drop-out old-maidishTo doorstep sportsmanship to shoplift

Classifications of compounds are done in many different ways. We can classify them in terms of the parts of speech thatmake up the compound (noun + noun, noun + verb, etc.). we can also classify them in terms of the type of link between thecomponents: coordinate vs. Subordinate. In a coordinate compound both components are equal in importance:

In a subordinate compound one of the components is the main one and the other (others) are subordinate. According to the order of the components compounds are divided into syntactic and asyntactic. In the first case the

components are placed in the order that resembles that order of the words in the corresponding free word combination. In asyntacticcompounds the order is different.

Compound nouns can be classified into endocentric and exocentric. If the referent is named by one of the elements andgiven an additional characteristic by another, is an endocentric compound: sunbeam, bath towel. If only the combination of bothelements names the referent, is an exocentric compound: skinhead.

A separate group of compounds in English are the so-called neoclassical compounds. Some elements in English word-formation can function as affixes in some places, but in other cases they are different from affixes: bio-, -scope, electro-, hydro-, etc. Ifwe regard them as affixes, then such words as electroscope have no roots. These elements appeared in English with classicalborrowings: Latin and Greek. Later they started being used to form scientific terms. They play quite a prominent role in word-formation today.

Another interesting group of English compounds are phrase compounds, constructions where an entire phrase seems to be

involved in the formation of a new word. Forget-me-not, dog-in-the-manger are examples of such compounds. In some cases thesequence of words is quite long: a let-the-sleeping-dog-lie attitude, a never-to-be-forgotten-occasion, a four-thousand-a-year job.They may be quite a challenge for a translator. One more special group are noun + noun compounds or the so-called “stone wall”complexes. The question is whether we should regard them as compound words or as word combinations.

Lecture 9. Word Combinations and Idioms

A syntagmatic lexical relation is a culturally determined pattern of association betweenpairs of lexical units.

Syntactical relations are rules prescribing combinability of a sign. They can begrammatical (what part of speech can be combine with another part of speech) or lexical. Inspeech the meanings of words combine and interact with one another.

Types of syntagmatic relations:Philonyms = two lexical units combined into a syntactically and semantically normal

constructions.Tautonyms = pleonastic constructions.In the majority of cases when we combine words in a sentence we create redundancy:

“Divide the apple into two halves”. “The bird is flying” (the word “bird” already contains thesemantic feature “fly” in its meaning). This phenomenon is called pleonasm.

Xenonyms = dissonant constructions.Syntactical relations are rules prescribing combinability of a sign. They can be

grammatical (what part of speech can be combine with another part of speech) or lexical. Inspeech the meanings of words combine and interact with one another.

In some cases words change their dictionary meanings in a context, or, in other words,acquire a contextual meaning. It may aquire a different referential meaning or it may aqcuirenew semantic features or lose some of the semantic components. context - discourse that surrounds a language unit and helps to determine its interpretation context of use, linguistic context

discourse - extended verbal expression in speech or writingcontext - the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event; "the historicalcontext" circumstance

environment - the totality of surrounding conditions; "he longed for the comfortableenvironment of his living room.”

The terms collocation and collocability were first introduced by J R Firth in his paperModes of Meaning published in 1951. Firth does not give any explicit definition of collocationbut he rather illustrates the notion by way of such examples as: 'One of the meanings of ass isits habitual collocation with an immediately preceding you silly...' Although some of his othercontributions to linguistic and stylistic analysis (such as prosodic features) have had aconsiderable impact, his notion of collocation has not been seriously considered until the lastdecade. The reasons for this neglect are probably twofold: on the one hand, the rather vagueterms in which he described the notion (cfr. Haskell 1970) and, on the other hand, the practicalrestrictions imposed by the prohibitive scale of a textual study of collocability. The latterdrawback has been remedied by the introduction of the digital computer in textual analysis. Asto the former, several recent attempts have been made by scholars at defining the notioncollocation more precisely within the framework of modern linguistic theory.

Collocation: 'the syntagmatic association of lexical items, quantifiable, textually, as theprobability that there will occur at n removes (a distance of n lexical items) from an item x, theitems a, b, c ...'

A collocation is a group of words that habitually co-occur. They may collocate simply

because the combination reflects a common real world state of affairs: Pass me the salt. Butsome collocations have an added element of linguistic convention (native speakers have chosento say so).

The combinability of the word A is a set of requirements the word B should meet to besyntactically connected with the word A.

Valency is the ability of a word to combine with other words. Lexical and grammaticalvalency: high – tall; walk fast, taste delicious.

Semantic syntax shows the types of relations that link lexical meanings of words in atext. Compare our grammatical cases with the semantic cases identified by Ch. Filmore: agent,instrument, object, locativ (location), etc. Apresyan identifies 25 semantic valencies: subject,object, cause, recipient , etc.

The word L has a semantic valency X if the word L describes a situation in which X isan indispensable participant.

The role of semantic syntactical relations in translation.

Free word combinations.

Phrases are syntactic structures formed by two or ore notional words with a grammaticallinks between them.

John Lyons: a phrase is any group of words which is grammatically equivalent to aseparate word and which has no predicative link.

There are three types of subordinate links: agreement (making the subordinate word takea form similar to that of the word to which it’s subordinate), government (the use of a certainform of the subordinate word required by the main word), and parataxis.

(Transparency).A phrase is a means of naming: it denotes and object, a phenomenon, a process, a

quality. The mechanism of naming is different: the main component names it and thesubordinate one specifies, gives some additional information, provides a more specificcharacteristic.

In terms of distribution phrases can be classified into 2 large groups: endocentric (thephrase has the same distribution as the main component) and exocentric (the distribution of theword combination is different from either of its components).

Phrases can be motivated and non-motivated. The meaning of a motivated phrase istransparent: it is the result of the interaction of the meaning of each component and the meaningof the pattern: to spend a day in the country or a day to spend in the country.

Idioms.Set phrases or idioms are not formed by the speaker in the process of speech but are

reproduced as readymade units. There are many definitions of idioms. One of them is: "An idiom is assigning of a new

meaning to a group of words which already have their own meaning." These are non-motivatedphrases and their characteristic features make them function like words, not like wordcombinations.

These characteristic features are: the meaning attached to whole group is different from the combined meaning of the

components;set phrases are rigid, their components cannot be easily replaced; they are reproduced in speech as readymade units. Changes in the semantic structures of the components are of different nature. Some of

them are metaphoric, others are metonymic, still others are based on illogical assumptions.They are like ships that pass in the night, on the tip of the tongue, once in a blue moon. There are other factors that participate in constructing a set phrase: rhythm, rhyme,

alliteration, pun, contrast (out of sight, out of mind, head over heels, rain or snow)With some set phrases the degree of inflexibility can be different: bear malice, grudge.There are several classifications of set phrases. They all were made by Russian scholars.V. Vinogradov:

Phraseological fusions: absolutely non-motivated idioms: head over heels, red tape, beatabout the bush.Phraseological unities: the meaning of these idioms is pretty transparent, we understand themotivation of such idioms: to know on which side the bread is buttered, to pour money downthe drain, to sweep somebody.off his feet.Phraseoloqical combinations: one of the components is used in its direct meaning, the otherin the figurative one: on one hand, on the other hand; on the spur of the moment.

A. Koonin’s classification is functional.Naming phrases denote objects, qualities, processes, actions. They can be noun phrase (theyare used in the functions of a noun), adjectival (used as attributes) and adverbial (are used asadverbial modifiers): Crocodile tears, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the goose that might laygolden eggs; larger than life, alive and kicking, more dead than alive; with all one's heart,head and shoulders, rain or shine.lnterjectional phrases express emotions: by George! (admiration, discontent, irritation, etc.)My foot! (denying what has been said in the previous sentence). Communicative phraseological units (proverbs and sayings):Let sleeping dogs lie. Out of sight, out of mind. Life is not a bed of roses.Naming-communicative: the main component of these phrases is a verb, but only if verbs inthese phrases can be used both in the active and the passive voice, and the phrase itself can betransformed into passive. Break the ice - the ice is broken, to cross the Rubicon - the Rubiconis crossed. The other verbal phrases are regarded as naming.

Amosova's classification is based on the criterion of context (minimum discoursewhich is sufficient for identifying a word's meaning). Free word combinations make up variablecontexts, whereas set phrases are non-variable or fixed contexts. Fixed context is interrelatedwith the new meaning that is attached to the components. If only one of the componentsacquires a new specific meaning dependent on the other component, the set phrase is classifiedas a phraseme: a blind date, the teacher's pet. If both components have acquired newmeaning, the phrase is an idiom: straight from the horsed mouth (from a reliable source),eager beaver (a person who does something above what is necessary to win a favor).

Lecture 10. Dialects and variants of the English languageLanguage used in different parts of a country and by different social groups usually

varies. Dialectology differentiates between geographical and social variations of the same

language.

Geographical variations of English can be dialects or variants. The difference between

the two types of variations depend on one factor: presence or absence of the standard or

literary layer of language. Standard language is used in literary works and in the mass media. It

is based on literary forms fixed in dictionaries and rules fixed by standard grammar.

Dialects are non-literary forms of language. A dialect is used in a certain part of a

country. It is opposed to Standard English.

On the territory of Great Britain there are two variants of English: Irish and

Scottish. They are treated as variants because there are literary works created in Irish English

and Scottish English.

Dialects of British English:

Variants of English outside the British Isles: American, Australian, and Canadian

.

American English. There were three main factors that determined divergence of

American English from British English.

Factor 1 is the influence of languages which were different from the languages that

influenced British English. English colonists in the New World had contacts with other nations

and ethnic groups which English people did not have on the Isles.

BORROWINGS INTO AMERICAN ENGLISH

Languages Semantic groups ExamplesIndian languages (Algonquian, Iroquoian,Siouan, etc.)

Plants, animals, foods,culture, political terms

Sequoia, squash, racoon, skunk,pemmican, squaw, wampum, caucus

Spanish Plants, animals, ranch life,food and drink, building, etc.

Marijuana, barracuda, lasso, tortilla,tequila, plaza, patio

French Plants, animals, foods,toponymics, coinage

Pumpkin, gopher, praline, prairie, cent,dime

German Food and drink, education,social, etc.

Delicatessen, hamburger, semester,seminar, Christmas tree

Dutch Food, social classification,miscellaneous

Cookie, boss, Yankee, dumb, spook

The second factor is called “the colonial lag”. The first colonists spoke the English of

Shakespeare. Some words fell out of use in Great Britain but American English retained them.

Loan – lend, fall – autumn, quit – stop, apartment – flat.

The third factor relates to the specific features of American life, to technical, social and

other innovations that appeared in the States.

Drive-in, drive-through, fraternity, sorority, alumni, hot dogs, etc.

Glorification of the commonplace: saloon, undertaker – funeral furnisher, home-maker –

housewife, casket – coffin.

Regional variations:

Dialect differentiations along the East Coast of the U.S. is finely graded, the result of

mixing patterns of early immigration and difficulty in travel and communication between cities

in colonial times. Further west dialects are much further apart, illustrating the mixing of the

various Easy Coast varieties as people moved west. The major immigration routes into the

west are primarily responsible for the mingling of many distinct eastern varieties into three large

mid-America dialects: the Northern (New England, New York City), Midland (Philadelphia

Area, West Virginia), and Southern (South Carolina),

Examples: Northern (New England): waked up (woke up), stand on line (in line)

South: quarter till nine (of nine), clean (=well, completely “clean over half an hour”)

Midland: wait on (for), turnpike (highway)

Lecture 11. LexicographyThe Oxford English Dictionary (OED). It has rightly been referred to as the greatest dictionary ever

written for any language. Although it certainly cannot be up-to-date (due to its history and its genesis) it is without anydoubt a most astonishing achievement and an inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge about the English language.

A glance at its history will reveal why the OED is unique (cf McArthur 1986: 124ff). Around the middle of thelast century it was felt in England that existing dictionaries of the language were inadequate. So the Philological Societyin London, around 1850, started the project of a new dictionary. For this purpose, in 1879 a contract was signedwith the old and famous Oxford University Press for the financing and publication of the dictionary. During the longand eventful years of writing and publishing, several editors were in charge of the process. The most important ofthese was probably James A.H. Murray. But neither a single editor nor the entire Philological Society could havemanaged to complete this immense project single-handedly. The plan (which was in fact carried out) was to give forevery word of the English language and for each of its meanings, quotations from actual written texts. To find suchexamples by the systematic reading of texts could only be done by the help of many volunteer readers, over thecourse of years and years. The material contributed by hundreds of readers formed the basis of the editing of thedictionary. At one point there were over 800 of them (cf The Compact Edition of the OED: vii) and all in all 2,000readers sent in 5 million quotations over a period of 70 years (cf McArthur 1986: 131). In 1884 the first instalment ofthe dictionary, originally entitled A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, was issued. This title isresponsible for the abbreviation NED, still occasionally used today. The final part with the letter Z appeared in 1928.Thus the whole project had taken exactly 70 years since the resolution of the Philological Society calling for a newdictionary was passed in 1858. However, the undertaking was not completed with the issuing of the last instalment.13

In 1933 an important supplement volume appeared containing new and omitted words, as well as correctionsnecessitated during the long publication process. The completed work treats more than 400,000 words and phrases.Together with the 1933 Supplement it is bound in 13 large volumes, occupying 16,570 pages. Since the

The smallest and therefore most up-to-date dictionary based on the OED and its Supplements is TheConcise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (COD). In spite of this origin, former editions of the CODcontained relatively few quotations, illustrative sentences, or collocations, ie co-occurrences of lexical items. The latesteditions, however, have adapted more to the pressure of competing dictionaries of comparable size and price.Furthermore, the long tradition in which it stands is a burden in some respects.

After eighty years of COD (first published 1911), the eighth edition of 1990 is a departure from the traditionin several respects. Like OED2, it has now newly adopted the use of the IPA phonetic transcription. Up to theseventh edition, an attempt had been made to separate linguistic and encyclopedic information by emphasizing thedistinction between "a dictionary" and "an encyclopaedia [sic!]". The editor.R.E. Allen now states (81990: XXIII) thatthis distinction "is rather less strictly maintained". Finally, as specified on the same page:

With this eighth edition the COD has entered the computer age. The text was initially assembled as a computer database...This database contains material from a broad variety of printed and electronic sources and the dictionary

articles have a completely new structure. The COD is thus no longer directly derived from the OED. Naturally, this isalso true for the

Although the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English (OALD), originally compiledin 1942 by A.S. Hornby (with the help of others), is also published by Oxford University Press, it is only indirectlyrelated to the preceding work. The characterization "Advanced Learner's" in the title is somewhat misleading (but cfCowie 1987). It is definitely profitable for other users as well. Compared to the COD, the OALD, with its latest sixthedition 2000, is rather restricted to more basic vocabulary and contains fewer learned and technical words, andpractically no etymology. On the other hand it is modern and up-to-date and is distinguished by its clarity. It furthercontains many typical examples and collocations and very useful illustrations (cf Ilson 1987). Another helpful featurefound in most modern dictionaries (automatically incorporated in computer programs for word processing today) isthe marking of word-divisions at the end of a line. Three advantages of the OALD may be particularly emphasized: 1.It contains short but nevertheless exact definitions and paraphrases of the concepts, 2. each definition and differentuse is illustrated with an example, ie the word is shown in a typical context, 3. valuable grammatical information isprovided. The OALD6 contains many clear illustrations and tables. As in most recent dictionaries, a number of usefulappendices are added at the end. Naturally, the latest edition is available on CD-ROM, with videos, interactivecontrol of pronunciation, and grouping together visually related concepts.

Only indirectly related to the OED is the The New Oxford Dictionary of English (NODE), edited byJudy Pearsall in 1998 at Clarendon Press. It is also based on the British National Corpus (BNC, 100 mio words, see1.5) and on a continuous search for new words by a 60-people-strong international network of readers. Its new"quick-access page design" offers the most important modern meanings of a word first. Word history notes explainthe linguistic roots of each word and its changing meanings over the centuries. NODE is not only available as a single-volume print dictionary, but also online. For a review of NODE and other dictionaries see Allen (2000).

Another important medium-sized dictionary that is not derived from the OED is the Longman Dictionary ofContemporary English (LDCE). It was first published in 1978 as a completely new, original work, which uses thefindings of modern linguistics to give a more precise description of language. The editors have frequently had recourseto the material of the Survey of English Usage (SEU) at University College London. This is a representative corpus setup for the analysis and description of the contemporary language, containing examples of many varieties of English.There are very important and symptomatic changes and improvements in the second edition of 1987.

The LDCE is comparable in scope to the OALD and has many original features. It also contains grammaticalinformation on word classes, countability, and the construction potential of verbs. As in the OALD, illustrations areused, besides definitions, for the explanation of the words treated. Syllable structure is also indicated, which is relevantfor end-of-line divisions. The use of words is demonstrated in extensive typical contexts, and collocations are shownin three different ways: in example sentences, by explanation in the so-called Usage Notes, and by typographicemphasis if the collocation is idiomatic or found very often. The revised edition is furthermore improved byadditional Language Notes, ie tables which incorporate pragmatic aspects into the dictionary and provide usefulinformation on addressing people, apologies, criticism and praise, invitations and offers, politeness, thanks, the use ofarticles, collocations, modals, phrasal verbs, prepositions etc. It also consistently attempts to avoid racist and sexistlanguage (see 1.3). Neologisms and natural and typical usage in the 1980s are captured by constant updating of theLongman Citation Corpus, now called the Longman Corpus Network.

A third example of medium British dictionaries free from the burden of tradition is the Collins Dictionary ofthe English Language (COLLINS), first published in 1979. A slightly revised edition appeared in 1986. It paysconsiderable attention to geographical variation and has special consultants for Scottish English, Caribbean English,Australian English etc. The COLLINS is larger than the COD, which is due in part to the fact that it contains a greatdeal of encyclopedic information. This may be illustrated by the following entries: Brenner Pass 'a pass over the EAlps, between Austria and Italy. Highest point: 1,372 m'; Bretagne 'the French name for Britanny'; Bridge ... Frank'1879-1941, English composer ...'; Bridge of Sighs 'a covered 16th-century bridge in Venice ...'.

With its special focus on varieties of English, it is not surprising that the COLLINS (like the LDCE) shouldhave developed a neat system of "restrictive labels", subclassified into "temporal" {Archaic, Obsolete), "usage"{Slang, Informal, Taboo, Facetious, Euphemistic, Not standard), "connotative" {Derogatory, Offensive),"subject-field" {Astronomy, Banking etc.), and "national and regional labels" {Austral, Brit., Canadian, Caribbean,Irish, N.Z., S. African, Scot., U.S.).

Let us now turn to a fourth medium-sized dictionary of contemporary English, produced by the samepublisher, the COBUILD English Language Dictionary, which was unique in many ways when it appeared in1987 incidentally, our counting could be renumbered on good grounds, if we considered the second edition of theLDCE as a different, fifth book. It is really a new edition, with a woman, Delia Summers, as a new Editorial Director,with a more progressive attitude, where women feature as protagonists in many of the examples given. A number offeatures of the COBUILD are quite exceptional, which make it a kind of "odd man out".

As we have seen, most British dictionaries, especially the recent medium-sized ones, give due consideration toregional variation of English. There are, of course, special dictionaries for English and American dialects, for ScottishEnglish, for Americanisms, Canadianisms, etc. and the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE),published under the direction of F.G. Cassidy. Since, however, the American national standard plays such anextraordinary role, I will briefly consider some important American dictionaries. The nearest equivalent to the OED(although a far cry from the monumental original) is A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles(DAE) published in four volumes by the University of Chicago Press between 1936 and 1944. It has the same lay-out, and one of its editors, W. Craigie, was co-editor of the OED.

Perhaps the most comprehensive modern authoritative work is WEBSTER'S THIRD New InternationalDictionary of the English Language (W3) that provoked heated discussions when it first appeared in 1961. Itwas originally published in 2 volumes, but a later edition of 1976 is in 3 volumes. The same year, a supplementappeared under the title Six Thousand Words. This is contained in the most recent compilation: 12 000 Words: ASupplement to Webster's Third, edited by Frederick C. Mishetal (1986).

At the turn of the century, or millennium, there was a new wave of publications, mainly due to thepublishers' need to make use of a new medium for their dictionaries, namely the CD-ROM (cf Jehle 1999). Thisdevelopment had already started in 1984, with the computerization of the OED, and Edmund Weiner becomingco-editor of the new OED, as mentioned in the second edition of my Outline (1992: 28f). In the year 2000 OUPreleased the sixth edition of the OALD (simultaneously with the electronic version) with a refined entry design,using two colours, introducing so-called shortcuts for different meanings and including emphasis is laid onAmerican English.

The most recent development in the area of electronic dictionaries is the availability of a wide range ofreference works, encyclopedia and other language related sites on the Internet. Some of them are

presented by publishing companies, thus guaranteeing a high standard but many others are of unknown oruncertain origin, so that one cannot be sure about the quality of information.ПЛАНЫ СЕМИНАРСКИХ

ЗАНЯТИЙМодуль 1. Слово как объект лексикологии

Seminar 1: THE WORD AS THE MAIN UNIT OF LANGUAGE (4 ч.)

1.The issues lexicology addresses as a branch of linguistics: the object of lexicology, types of lexicology, theconnection of lexicology with other branches of linguistics.

2.The word and its properties. Facets of the word as a sign.3.The main approaches connected with the problem of the word as the main language unit: E. Sapir, A.I.

Smirnitsky, I.V. Arnold. 4.The word as an arbitrary and motivated sign. Types of motivation. Demotivation of words.5.Naming. Main ways of nomination. Mechanisms employed by language to create new words.

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 9-21, 27-31, 33-36, 55.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 6-10, 15-17, 25-26.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М. :

Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 7-12, 25-28.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – С. 6-11.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 9-18.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 11-21.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМЫЙ ПЕРЕЧЕНЬ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАНИЙ

1. Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English Lexicology. –

М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 35-36, упр. 1-3.

2. Mednikova E.M. Seminars in English Lexicology = Практикум по лексикологии английского языка. Учеб.

пособие для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – М. : Высшая школа, 1978. – P. 39, ex. 3.

Модуль 2. ЭтимологияSeminar 2: THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE ENGLISH WORD-STOCK (4 ч.)

1.The origin of English words. Native words vs. borrowings. Characteristic features of native words and theirsemantic groups.

2.Borrowing as a way of expanding vocabulary: causes of borrowing, ways of borrowing, source language vs.language of origin.

3.Different types of classification of borrowings in English.4.The historical survey of language contacts between English and other languages. Characteristic features of

borrowings from other languages. The consequences of language contacts for English. The most importantsource languages: Celtic, Old Scandinavian, French, Latin, Greek.

5.Etymological doublets. International words.

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 252-261.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 103-109.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М. :

Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 160-175.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – С. 44-56, 62-71, 276-278.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 20-32.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМЫЙ ПЕРЕЧЕНЬ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАНИЙ

1.Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – С. 57-61, упр. 2-14, с. 71-77, упр. 2-14.

2.Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 32-35, упр. 4, 5, 7, 9, 11-13.

3.Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 110-120, упр. 1-24.

Модуль 3. Лексическая семантикаSeminar 3: WORD MEANING. SEMANTIC FIELDS AND SENSE RELATIONS (6 ч.)

1. The most important theories of meaning:

a) the referential theory;

b) the functional theory;

c) the conceptual theory (in the Soviet tradition and in cognitive linguistics).

Why no one of the given definitions of meaning is satisfying?

2. Types of meaning: lexical vs. grammatical, denotative vs. connotative, dictionary vs. contextual, intensional vs.extensional.

What challenges can a translator have trying to render different types of meaning?

3. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations of words in language.

4. Sense relations from a paradigmatic perspective:

b) synonymy;

c) antonymy;

d) hyponymy;

e) partonymy.

What challenges for a translator does each type of sense relations present?

5. Semantic fields as a universal way of classifying and categorizing our knowledge of the real world: definition, units,main characteristic features.

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 23, 31-33, 37-50, 194-206, 209-215,

226-229.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 11-15, 17-20, 39-46.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М. :

Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 13-23, 46-47, 51-61.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 129-131, 184-197, 209-210, 216-219, 280-282.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 57-61, 77-85.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 19-20, 48, 101-113, 125, 137-138, 145-153.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

Seminar 4: THE SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF THE WORD.

SEMANTIC CHANGES IN LANGUAGE (4 ч.)

1. Polysemy as a means of economizing in language. The semantic structure of a polyseme.2. Homonymy: sources of homonymy, classification of homonyms.3. Metaphor and metonymy as cognitive mechanisms of creating new meanings.4. Change of meaning: causes, types of semantic change (broadening and narrowing of meaning, elevation and

degradation of meaning, hyperbole and litotes).

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 50-59, 60-76, 155, 182-194.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 27-34.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М. :

Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 28-33, 33-46.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 131-142, 147-160, 166-175, 279-280.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 61-70, 74-77.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies.

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 18-19, 28-29, 35, 37-38, 95, 98, 138-145.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМЫЙ ПЕРЕЧЕНЬ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАНИЙ

1.Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 142-146, упр. 2-9, с. 160-165, упр. 2-10.

2.Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 71-73, упр. 5, 7-11, 13, 16-19, с. 86-89, упр. 6-13.

3.Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 21-25, упр. 1-7, с. 36-38, упр. 4-11, с. 47-51, упр. 1-12.

Модуль 4. Морфология и словообразование

Seminar 5: MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WORDS.

WORD FORMATION. AFFIXATION (4 ч.)

1.Morphology as a branch of linguistics. The morpheme as the smallest meaningful unit and as material for buildingnew words.

2.Types of morphemes.

3.Allomorphs.

4.Segmentability and its degrees.

5.Methods of morphological analysis: IC and UC analysis.

6.Affixation as a principal way of word formation. The affix and the word building pattern as the main units ofaffixation.

7.Classification of affixes. The valency of affixes and stems.

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 77-107.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 52-57, 61-66, 71-78.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М.

: Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 23-25, 89-107, 114-127.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 78-86.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 36-46.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 77-81, 84-88.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

Seminar 6: WORD FORMATION. CONVERSION, COMPOUNDING

AND MINOR WAYS OF WORD FORMATION (4 ч.)

1.Conversion: its peculiarities in the English language (productivity, mechanisms, synchronic vs. diachronicapproach).

2.Compounding: its peculiarities in the English language (productivity, patterns, compounding accompanied byother means of word formation, neoclassical compounds, noun + noun phrases, criteria for identifying acompound word).

3.Minor ways of word formation:a)shortening: graphical and lexical shortening (clipping and abbreviation);

b)blending;c)back formation;d)sound and stress interchange.

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 108-133, 134-152, 153-164.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 70-71, 87-96.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М. :

Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 108-114, 127-159.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 86-94, 104-120.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 46-53.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 69-75.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМЫЙ ПЕРЕЧЕНЬ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАНИЙ

1.Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 95-103, упр. 2-13, с. 120-128, упр. 2-11.

2.Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 54-56, упр. 4, 5, 7-10, 17, 18.

3.Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 58-61, упр. 1-8, с. 67-69, упр. 1-7, с. 79-87, упр. 1-20, с. 97-102, упр. 1-

14.

Модуль 5. ФразеологияSeminar 7: FREE WORD COMBINATIONS AND PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS (4 ч.)

1.Free word combinations and set expressions. The meaning of a word combination. Lexical and grammaticalvalency.

2.The main characteristic features of phraseological units. The mechanisms of creating phraseological units.3.Classification of phraseological units. The principles that underlie each of the classifications. 4.Challenges of translating phraseological units.5.Proverbs, sayings and clichйs.

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 24, 165-181, 200.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 121-124, 128-136.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М. :

Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 64-88.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 225-236, 242-251.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 90-95, 98-107.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 126-129, 193-205.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМЫЙ ПЕРЕЧЕНЬ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАНИЙ

1.Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 237-241, упр. 2-14, с. 252-258, упр. 2-11.

2.Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 95-97, упр. 8-12, с. 108-110, упр. 6-10.

3.Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 125-128, упр. 1-8, с. 137-144, упр. 1-13.

Модуль 6. Дифференциация лексикиSeminar 8: THE SUBSYSTEMS OF THE ENGLISH LEXICON (2 ч.)

1.Stylistic differentiation of vocabulary: the formal register, the informal register, the neutral layer. The role of eachstratum for communication.

2.The structure of the formal stratum: learned words, terminology, the language of official documents, poeticdiction.

3.The structure of the informal stratum: colloquial words, slang, jargon, argot.

4.Euphemisms and political correctness. The mechanisms of euphemisation. Political correctness as acontroversial issue.

5.Classification of lexical items from the age perspective: archaic words vs. historical words, neologisms vs.nonce-words.

6.Ways to preserve the stylistic colouring in different types of discourse.

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 75, 207, 216-221, 240-251.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М.

: Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 178-179, 180-183, 193-194.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 12-21, 27-38.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 111-128.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 20-21, 30-36, 41-60, 79-83.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМЫЙ ПЕРЕЧЕНЬ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАНИЙ

1.Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 22-26, упр. 2-5, с. 39-43, упр. 2-5.

2.Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 129-132, упр. 12-20.

Seminar 9: DIALECTOLOGY (2 ч.)

1.Dialectology as a branch of linguistics. Geographical and social differentiation of vocabulary. Standard language,variant, dialect.

2.The variants of English on the British Isles: their specific features.3.The dialects of British English: dialectal words.4.The variants of English across the globe: American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Indian.5.The dialects of American English. African American Vernacular English (AAVE).

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 262-271.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 145-165.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М. :

Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 200-209.

Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 259-266.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 145-160, 163-172.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 23-30.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМЫЙ ПЕРЕЧЕНЬ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАНИЙ

1.Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. – М. :

Дрофа, 2001. – C. 267-275, упр. 2-19.

2.Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 161-162, упр. 4-7, с. 173, упр. 4-6.

3.Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 166-186, упр. 1-25.

Модуль 7. ЛексикографияSeminar 10: LEXICOGRAPHY (2 ч.)

1.The history of dictionary making.2.Main problems of dictionary compiling.3.Classification of dictionaries.4.Analyze different types of dictionaries in terms of their structure, range of data, type of information given.5.Modern trends in English lexicography. Electronic dictionaries and how to use them.

Основная литература:

Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М. : Высшая школа, 1986. – P. 272-285.

Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English

Lexicology. – М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 187-200.

Дополнительная литература:

Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. – М.

: Высшая школа, 1979. – P. 210-233.

Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 133-140.

Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2007. – С. 157-168, 176-179.

Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия,

1990.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМЫЙ ПЕРЕЧЕНЬ ПРАКТИЧЕСКИХ ЗАДАНИЙ

1.Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide = Лексикология английского языка. – М. : Флинта : Наука,

2008. – С. 140-144, упр. 3-5, 7-9.

2.Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English Lexicology.

– М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 202-216, упр. 1-11.

ПРИМЕРНАЯ ТЕМАТИКА КУРСОВЫХ РАБОТ

1. Деривационный потенциал заимствованных слов.

2. Заимствованная лексика и особенности ее функционирования в публицистическом тексте.

3. Зоометафора в английском и русском языках: контрастивный анализ.

4. Когнитивные аспекты семантики метафорических инноваций.

5. Когнитивные методы исследования семантической структуры слова.

6. Кросс-культурные и кросс-лингвистические различия в ситуациях повседневного общения (на

материале английского и русского языков).

7. Культурный опыт как фактор заимствований в английском языке.

8. Лексическая валентность слова как проявление языковой картины мира.

9. Мотивация слова в английском и русском языках как отражение языковой и культурной картин

мира (сопоставительный анализ).

10. Национально-культурная специфика английских фразеологизмов.

11. Неологические тенденции в образовании сленгизмов и коллоквиализмов в английском языке.

12. Образный строй пословицы как отражение культурной картины мира народа.

13. Основные механизмы создания фразеологических оборотов в английском языке.

14. Основные проблемы создания электронных словарей и способы их разрешения.

15. Особенности использования английского языка за пределами Великобритании.

16. Особенности номинации в названиях английских товаров.

17. Особенности употребления эвфемизмов в политической рекламе.

18. Особенности функционирования скандинавских заимствований в английском языке.

19. Причины нейтрализации метафоры в переводе.

20. Политкорректность как фактор языковой картины мира.

21. Прагматические аспекты изучения английского интернет-сленга.

22. Проблема выделения доминанты синонимического ряда.

23. Проблема выделения когнитивных составляющих многозначного слова.

24. Реализация периферийных сем во фразеологических оборотах.

25. Синонимия афоризмов и пословиц в английском языке.

26. Сленг как отражение культурных особенностей отдельной социальной группы.

27. Словообразовательные модели неологизмов в современном английском языке.

28. Современные лингвострановедческие реалии в английском языке.

29. Социолингвистические особенности электронной речи.

30. Способы смягчения негативной коннотации.

ПРИМЕРНАЯ ТЕМАТИКА КОНТРОЛЬНЫХ ЗАДАНИЙ

К модулю 1. Слово как объект лексикологии

1.What does lexicology deal with? Define the object of lexicology.

2.What are the branches of lexicology? Discuss the difference between diachronic and synchronic, comparative

and contrastive lexicological studies.

3.In what relation do words and morphemes stand to each other in the hierarchy of linguistic units?

4.What does the term «word» denote? Give a brief account of the main characteristics of the word as the main

unit of language.

5.What is understood by the semantic unity of a word? Which of the following possesses semantic unity – a

bluebell (R. колокольчик) or a blue bell (R. синий бубенчик). Explain.

6.Group the italicized words according to their type of motivation: a) words phonetically motivated; b) words

morphologically motivated; c) words semantically motivated.

7.Define the type of nomination process taken place in the following words: a) direct nomination; b) indirect /

secondary nomination.

К модулю 2. Этимология

1.Subdivide the following words of native origin into: a) those of Indo-European origin; b) those of Common

Germanic origin; c) English words proper.

2.State whether the italicized words were borrowed into English directly or indirectly, i.e. through another

language. Define the source and origin of the given borrowed words.

Model: obelisk < L obeliscus < Gr obelískos

The word obelisk was borrowed into the English language indirectly, i.e. through another language. The

source of borrowing is Latin, whereas the origin of borrowing is Greek.

3.State the etymology of the following words. In case of difficulty consult a dictionary.

4.Classify the given words into three columns: a) completely assimilated borrowings; b) partially assimilated

borrowings; c) unassimilated borrowings or barbarisms.

5.Compare the meaning of the following pairs of etymological doublets and define the origin.

6.Give the false cognates (= false friends) in the Russian language to the given English words. State the difference

in their meanings.

Model: argument

The false cognate of the word argument is the Russian word аргумент. The word argument means “an

angry disagreement between people”, whereas the word аргумент has the meaning “reasoning”.

К модулю 3. Лексическая семантика

31. Group the following words into three columns in accordance with the sameness of their 1) grammatical; 2) lexical;

3) part-of speech meaning.

32. Identify the denotative and connotative elements of lexical meaning in the given words. Analyze the similarity and

difference between the components of connotative meaning in each pair of words.

33. Find in the following list of words synonymic series and classify them in to three groups: a) ideographic synonyms;

b) stylistic synonyms; c) ideographic-stylistic synonyms.

34. Classify antonymous pairs into contradictories, contraries and incompatibles.

35. Organize the given words in accordance with their hyponymic relations. Enumerate the general terms

(hyperonyms).

36. Classify the following words and word-combinations into lexico-semantic groups (1) and semantic fields (2) under

the headings … (e.g. “education” and “feeling”).

37. Read the sentences in which the polysemantic word … (e.g. simple) is used. Give all the lexico-semantic variants

constituting the semantic structure of this word. Check yourself by a dictionary. Translate the sentences into

Russian.

38. Classify the given words into: 1) homonyms proper; 2) homophones; 3) homographs. Give meanings of these

words.

39. Define the kind of association (metaphor or metonymy) involved in the semantic change.

40. What semantic processes have taken place in the following words in the course of the development? Write after

each word its original meaning as given in the dictionary.

К модулю 4. Морфология и словообразование

1.Divide the following words into parts putting a slant line (/) at the point of division. Explain how the parts

produce the total meaning.

2.Segment the following words into morphemes. Define (a) the semantic types and (b) the structural types of

morphemes constituting the given words.

Model: aimless

The word aimless can be segmented into two morphemes: aim- + -less.

a)semantically aim- is a root morpheme; -less is an affix.

b)structurally aim- is a free morpheme; -less is a bound morpheme.

3.Analyze the following words from the point of view of their ICs and UCs applying an affix or a root principle.

Model: uncommonly

The morphemic analysis of the word uncommonly is based on the application of the affix principle and

includes the following stages:

1)uncommon- (IC) + -ly (strangely, sadly) (IC / UC);

2)un- (unsafe, unclean) (IC /UC) + -common (IC / UC).

The word consists of 3 UCs.

4.What prefixes would be used with the following words to make them negative?

5.Explain the difference between the meanings of the following words produced from the same root by means of

different suffixes. Translate the words into Russian.

6.Define the part of speech of the italicized words. State what parts of speech they are derived from by

conversion. Translate the sentences into Russian.

Model: Still water of the lake mirrors the trees.

The word mirror is a verb which is derived from the noun mirror by means of conversion. Неподвижная

гладь озера отражает деревья.

7.State the difference in meaning of the given compounds possessing different distributional patterns. Find

examples of your own.

Model: finger-ring – ring-finger

The compound word finger-ring denotes “a ring which is worn on a finger”, whereas the compound word

ring-finger means “the finger next to the little finger, especially of the left hand, on which the wedding ring is

worn”. The different order and arrangement of the same ICs (i.e. different distributional patterns) signal the

difference in meaning.

8.Give structural formulas of the following words. Classify the words into: 1) suffixal derivatives; 2) prefixal

derivatives; 3) conversions; 4) compound words.

Model: blackness, table-cloth

The structural formula of the word blackness is a + -sf → N. The given word is a suffixal derivative. The

structural formula of the word table-cloth is n + n → N. Table-cloth is a compound word.

9.In accordance with the part that is cut off to form a new word classify cases of shortening into four groups: 1)

initial shortenings (aphesis); 2) medial shortenings (syncope); 3) final shortenings (apocope); 4) both initial and

final shortenings.

10.Determine the original components of the following blends. Define which type (additive or restrictive) the

blends belong to.

11.From the sentences given below write out the words built up by back-formation. Give the original words from

which they are formed.

Model: They commentate on live Monday matches.

The word commentate (v) is formed by means of back-derivation. The word from which it was formed is

commentator (n).

12.Group the words formed by sound-interchange into: 1) those formed by vowel-interchange or ablaut (&

suffixation); 2) those formed by consonant-interchange; 3) those formed by combining both means, i.e.

vowel- and consonant-interchange.

К модулю 5. Фразеология

1.Explain the meanings of the following combinations of words a) as free word combinations and b) as

phraseological units.

2.Using the data of various dictionaries compare the grammatical valency of the following words (e.g.: worth and

worthy, observance and observation).

3.Here are some English words. Give words of the same root in Russian. Compare their valency.

E.g.: situation, surprise, …

4.From the lexemes in brackets choose the correct one to go with each of the synonyms given below.

E.g.: acute, keen, sharp (knife, mind, sight)

5.Adduce examples of illustrative phraseology following the pattern.

E.g.: to breed an animal (horses, cows, pigs, geese, foxes, crocodiles etc.)

to keep domestic animals (cats, dogs, horses, a cow etc.)

6.State the type of transference on which the meaning of the given phraseological units is based.

7.Classify the italicized phraseological units into: 1) phraseological fusions; 2) phraseological unities; 3)

phraseological combinations. Contexts will help you to understand the meaning of phraseological units. In case

of difficulty consult a dictionary.

8.Here are some phrases which include the adjective … (e.g. green).

Which of them are idiomatic and how can they be paraphrased by using free word combinations? Consider

their Russian equivalents in terms of degrees of idiomaticity.

9.Come up with the remainder of the proverb for the first half of it. Give its Russian equivalent.

E.g.: Don’t bite the hand that ……………………………………. .

К модулю 6. Дифференциация лексики

1.With the help of a dictionary define the stylistic value of each of the following words (neutral, formal, colloquial,

slang etc.).

2.The italicized words and word-groups in the following extract(s) belong to formal style. Classify them into three

groups: a) learned words; b) terms or c) archaisms. Look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary.

3.The vocabulary of any scientific text may be classified into three main groups: 1. words of general language; 2.

words belonging to scientific prose as a genre; 3. terms (specific for that concrete branch of science). Analyse

the given text from this point of view.

4.The italicized words and word-groups in the following extract(s) are informal. Write them out in two columns: a)

slang or b) colloquial. Look up any words you do not know in the dictionary.

5.Explain the meaning and the origin of the following neologisms and state which of them have already come into

everyday speech.

6.Match the italicized Scottish English words from the sentences with the corresponding Standard English words

given in the box.

Model: She devoted her anam to helping others.

The corresponding Standard English word to the Scottish English word anam is life:

She devoted her life to helping others.

7.Replace the italicized Irish words with Standard English words from the box.

Model: Will you sit on the tolg, please, and wait for Peter coming.

The Irish word tolg can be replaced by the Standard English word sofa: Will you sit on the sofa, please, and

wait for Peter coming.

8.Here are the examples of Cockney rhyming slang. Match the words given in the left column with the phrases

given in the right column.

Model: cousin – baker’s dozen

9.Give the British equivalents for the following Americanisms.

10.Explain the difference(s) in the meanings of the following words in American and British English.

11.Translate the following words giving both the British and American variant.

12.Match the Indian English word with its British English equivalent.

13.Distribute the words from the given series into three groups: a) words used in American English; b) words

used in British English; c) words used in Australian English.

14.Study the meanings of the given words. State which of these words are used in Canadian English (1),

Australian English (2), New Zealand English (3), South African English (4), Indian English (5). In case of

difficulty consult a dictionary.

15.African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Look up the origin and meaning of the following words.

E.g.: tote, sambo, TVbonics, yam, backlash, …

К модулю 7. Лексикография

1.Classify the given dictionaries into two groups: a) encyclopedic dictionaries; b) linguistic dictionaries.

2.State which type the given linguistic dictionaries refer to: general – restricted, explanatory – specialized,

monolingual – bilingual, diachronic – synchronic.

Model: The Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs

The Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs is a restricted, explanatory, monolingual, synchronic word-

book.

3.Choose any three dictionaries and describe the principles of the selection of lexical units for inclusion in these

dictionaries.

4.State the mode of presentation of entries in the following dictionaries. What information is given in the subentries

and run-ons of these dictionaries?

E.g.: The Longman Language Activator (1993), The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998), The

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2003), …

5.Study the interface screenshots of the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Online

Thesaurus. Speak on the main peculiarities of these electronic dictionaries of the Internet paying special

attention to:

a)their structure and content;

b)access and search systems;

c)information given for each entry;

d)their reference systems.

ИТОГОВЫЙ ТЕСТ

1.Lexicology is the branch of linguistics dealing with … .

2.Lexicology has close ties with … .

3.The synchronic approach to the study of language material is concerned with … .

4.The diachronic approach to the study of language material deals with … .

5.Which of the scholars listed below gave this definition to the word?

E.g.: “The word is one of the smallest completely satisfying bits of isolated ‘meaning’, into which the sentence

resolves itself”.

6.Which of the following features does not characterize the word as the basic unit of language?

7.Group the words below into three types: a) those with phonetic motivation; b) those with morphological

motivation; c) those with semantic motivation.

8.Which meaning of the polysemantic word … (e.g. barbaric) is its primary meaning …?

a)… (very cruel and violent)

b)… (primitive; unsophisticated)

c)… (uncivilized and uncultured)

d)… (foreign)

9.The author of the following definition is an advocate of

a) the referential theory of meaning;

b) the functional theory of meaning;

c) the conceptual theory of meaning.

E.g.: “Words mean the thing they make us think of, the meaning of a word is the tie that connects it with that

thing”.

10.Which of these words have no connotative meaning?

11.Identify the type(s) of connotation which predominates in each sentence.

12.What is the secondary meaning of each italicized word based on: a) metaphor or b) metonymy?

13.The result of semantic change in the word … (e.g. sport) that meant … (“pastime, entertainment”) and now

denotes … (“an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes

against another or others for entertainment”) is …

a)the degradation of meaning

b)the narrowing of meaning

c)the elevation of meaning

d)the broadening of meaning

14.Write a homonym next to each word.

15.The words … (e.g. heir – air) refer to … .

a)homographs

b)homonyms proper

c)homophones

16.In the sentence … (e.g. “My auntie (uncle / cousin) has brought (purchased / hired) a red (green / black)

automobile (car / Ford)”) the possible substitutions of the words that compose it are indicative of the …

relations between words.

a)syntagmatic

b)paradigmatic

17.The synonyms … (e.g. teenager – “someone who is between 13 and 19 years old”) and … (e.g. youth –

“a young man between about 15 and 25 years old used especially about groups of young men who

behave badly or do something illegal”) refer to … .

a)stylistic synonyms

b)ideographic synonyms

c)ideographic-stylistic synonyms

18.The antonyms … (e.g. happy – sad) refer to … .

a)contraries

b)contradictories

c)incompatibles

19.Are the prefixes in the following words … ?

a)allomorphs

b)the same morpheme

c)homonyms

20.The suffix … (e.g. –ity) found in the words … (oddity, purity, stupidity) is a … .

a)denominal suffix

b)deverbal suffix

c)noun-forming suffix

21.Identify the way of word formation in the following words … .

a)abbreviation

b)conversion

c)affixation

d)compounding

e)clipping

f)back formation

g)blending

h)sound interchange

22.The origin source of borrowing of the word … (e.g. carat – “a unit of weight for precious stones and

pearls; a measure of the purity of gold”) (< French < Italian carato < Arabic kīrāt < Greek keration) are

… .

a)… (French and Greek)

b)… (Greek and French)

c)… (Arabic and Greek)

23.Classify the following words into three groups:

a)fully assimilated borrowings;

b)partially assimilated borrowings;

c)unassimilated borrowings or barbarisms.

24.Group the following phraseological units into types according to A.V. Kunin’s classification.

25.The phraseological unit ... (e.g. to get one’s claws into smb.) meaning (“to find a way of influencing or

controlling someone”) is a ... .

a)phraseological fusion

b)phraseological combination

c)phraseological unity

26.Which of the following words are Americanisms?

27.The Scottish English word … (e.g. leid) used in the sentence … (“Linguistics is the study of leid and how

people use it”) means … .

a)… (speech)

b)… (language)

c)… (syntax)

28.The Irish English word … (e.g. to cog) used in the sentence … (“I wouldn’t let just anybody cog my

exercise”) denotes … .

a)… (to do)

b)… (to translate)

c)... (to cheat, especially by coping)

29.… (e.g. The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry) is a(n) … .

a)linguistic dictionary

b)encyclopedic dictionary

30.… (e.g. The English-Russian Dictionary of Synonyms) is … .

a)… (general, specialized, bilingual, diachronic)

b)… (restricted, explanatory, monolingual, synchronic)

c)… (restricted, explanatory, bilingual, synchronic)

ВОПРОСЫ К ЭКЗАМЕНУ

1.Lexicology as a branch of linguistics. Types of lexicology. The connection of lexicology with other branches of

linguistics.

2.The word and its properties. The main approaches connected with the problem of the word as the main

language unit.

3.The word as an arbitrary and motivated sign. Naming. Types of motivation. Motivation in compound words and

phrases.

4.The problem of linguistic meaning. Types of linguistic meaning.

5.Main approaches to the definition of meaning.

6.Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships of words. Sense relations. Hyponymic relations. Cultural differences

in language classifications.

7.The problem of synonymy. Classifications of synonyms.

8.Antonymy. Types of antonyms.

9.Different ways of grouping words in language. Semantic fields as a universal way of organizing vocabulary.

Cultural differences in language classifications.

10. Polysemy and homonymy. The structure of a polysemantic word. Polysemy and translation equivalency.

11. Classifications of homonyms. Sources of homonymy.

12. Metaphor and metonymy as mechanisms of creating new meanings.

13. Development of lexical meaning. Causes and types of semantic change.

14. The etymological composition of the English lexicon. Native and borrowed words in English. Characteristics

of native words.

15. Borrowings and their classifications. Causes and ways of borrowings. The source language and the language

of origin.

16. Borrowings in the English language: the main source languages.

17. Etymological doublets, international words, false friends of the interpreter.

18. The morphemic structure of the word. Types of morphemes. Allomorphs.

19. Morphemic level of analysis of word-structure. The IC and the UC analysis.

20. Affixation as a means of word formation.

21. The problem of conversion. The synchronic and diachronic view of conversion.

22. Compounding as a way of word formation. Classifications of compound words.

23. Criteria of identifying a compound. The “stone wall” problem.

24. Minor ways of word formation.

25. Lexical and grammatical valency of words. Collocations.

26. Syntagmatic relations on the semantic level. Types of context. The role of lexical context in translation.

27. Free word combinations. Word combinations vs. idioms.

28. Idioms: their characteristic features. Classifications of idioms.

29. Stylistic stratification of the English vocabulary. Literary and non-literary strata.

30. Archaic words and neologisms.

31. Slang, jargon and euphemisms as subsystems of language.

32. Variant vs. dialect. Main variants of Modern English. English in different parts of the world.

33. American English: reasons for lexical differences between British and American English. Americanisms.

34. Variant vs. dialect. Geographical and social dialects in the British Isles.

35. Variant vs. dialect. Geographical and social dialects in the USA.

36. Lexicography. The main types of dictionaries.

37. The main problems of dictionary compiling.

38. Main methods of lexicological research.

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский

государственный университет имени С.

А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикологияанглийского языкаБилет № 1Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics. Types of lexicology. The connection of lexicology with other branches oflinguistics.

2. Minor ways of word-formation.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский

государственный университет имени С.

А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикологияанглийского языкаБилет №

2Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Free word combinations. Word combinations vs. idioms.

2. Variant vs. dialect. Main variants of Modern English. English in different parts of the world.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 3

Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Main methods of lexicological research.

2. Metaphor and metonymy as mechanisms for creating new meanings.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 4Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. The etymological composition of the English lexicon. Native and borrowed words in English. Characteristics ofnative words.

2. The word as an arbitrary and motivated sign. Naming. Types of motivation. Motivation in compound words andphrases.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 5Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Borrowings and their classification. Causes and ways of borrowings. The source language and the language oforigin.

2. The morphemic structure of the word. Types of morphemes. Allomorphs.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 6Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Development of lexical meaning. Causes and types of semantic change.

2. Borrowings in the English language: the main source languages.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 7Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Antonymy. Types of antonyms.

2. Lexicography. The main types of dictionaries.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 8Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Lexical and grammatical valency of words. Collocations.

2. Variant vs. dialects. Geographical and social dialects in the British Isles.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 9Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Main approaches to the definition of meaning.

2. Affixation as a means of word-formation.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 10Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. The problem of conversion. The synchronic and diachronic view of conversion.

2. The word and its properties. The main approaches connected with the problem of the word as the main languageunit.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 11Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. The problem of linguistic meaning. Types of linguistic meaning.

2. Polysemy and homonymy. The structure of a polysemantic word. Polysemy and translation equivalency.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 12Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Different ways of grouping words in language. Semantic fields as a universal way of organizing vocabulary. Culturaldifferences in language classifications.

2. Compounding as a way of word-formation. Classification of compound words.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 13Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Classification of homonyms. Sources of homonymy.

2. Stylistic stratification of the English vocabulary. Literary and non-literary strata.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 14Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships of words. Sense relations. Hyponymic relations.

2. American English: reasons for lexical differences between British and American English. Americanisms.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 15Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. The problem of synonymy. Classification of synonyms.

2. Archaic words and neologisms.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 16Отделение «Перевод и

переводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Morphemic level of analysis of word-structure. The IC and the UC analysis.

2. Idioms: their characteristic features. Classifications of idioms.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 17Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Syntagmatic relations on the semantic level. Types of context. The role of lexical context in translation.

2. Variant vs. dialects. Geographical and social dialects in the USA.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина

Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 18Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Criteria of identifying a compound. The “stone wall” problem.

2. Etymological doublets, international words, false friends of the interpreter.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

Федеральное агентство по образованию

ГОУ ВПО«Рязанский государственный

университет имени С.А. Есенина»

Дисциплина Лексикология английского языкаБилет № 19Отделение «Перевод ипереводоведение»3 курс

Вопросы:

1. Slang, jargon and euphemisms as subsystems of language.

2. The main problems of dictionary compiling.

June 2009 Зав.каф. лингвистики и МК Е.Л. Марьяновская

КРИТЕРИИ ОЦЕНОК ЗНАНИЙ СТУДЕНТОВ

По окончании курса студент должен обладать знаниями о системном характере языка, владетьосновным фактологическим материалом, а также базовыми методами языкового анализа,предусмотренными программой.

Оценка «отлично» ставится, если студент верно излагает суть лексикологического явления,может определить его место и роль в системе языка, демонстрирует проблемный аспект этого явления.

В плане практических умений студент должен продемонстрировать владение основнымиметодами лингвистического анализа, предусмотренными программой, а именно: выполнитьпрактическое задание и на его основе объяснить цель методики, конкретные операции иинструментарий (понятийный аппарат и систему обозначений), а также уметь оценить конкретнуюметодику в плане ее соответствия тому или иному материалу. При необходимости студент долженответить на дополнительные вопросы в рамках тематики, предусмотренной экзаменационнымбилетом.

Оценка «хорошо» ставится, если допускаются некоторые неточности в трактовке явления, неискажающие сути и терминологии излагаемого вопроса, и если студент не может самостоятельнопривести пример для иллюстрации излагаемого материала, но верно комментирует примерпреподавателя и дает пример по аналогии.

Оценка «удовлетворительно» ставится, когда допускаются значительные недостатки втрактовке явления: односторонняя его трактовка, упущение или неверное изложение важныххарактеристик этого явления, влияющих на понимание его сути.

Оценка «неудовлетворительно» ставится, если студент не отражает или искажает сутьизлагаемого явления, если студент неверно отвечает на дополнительные вопросы по тематике,заявленной в экзаменационном билете, не владеет методами анализа, предусмотренными программой.

МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЕ РЕКОМЕНДАЦИИ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЮ

Изучив глубоко содержание учебной дисциплины, целесообразно разработать матрицу

наиболее предпочтительных методов обучения и форм самостоятельной работы студентов, адекватныхвидам лекционных и семинарских занятий.

Пакет заданий для самостоятельной работы следует выдавать в начале семестра, определивокончательные сроки их выполнения и сдачи. Организуя самостоятельную работу, необходимопостоянно обучать студентов методам такой работы.

Вузовская лекция – главное звено дидактического цикла обучения. Ее цель – формирование устудентов ориентировочной основы для последующего усвоения материала методом самостоятельнойработы.

При возникновении трудностей в процессе выполнения самостоятельной работы, в том числе входе подготовки к семинарским занятиям ведущий преподаватель должен предоставить студентаминдивидуальные или групповые консультации.

Семинар проводится по узловым и наиболее сложным вопросам учебной программы. Главнаяи определяющая особенность любого семинара – наличие элементов дискуссии, проблемности,диалога между преподавателем и студентами и самими студентами. В конце семинара рекомендуетсядать оценку всего семинарского занятия.

При проведении аттестации студентов важно всегда помнить, что систематичность,объективность, аргументированность – главные принципы, на которых основаны контроль и оценказнаний студентов. Проверка, контроль и оценка знаний студентов требуют учета его индивидуальногостиля в осуществлении учебной деятельности. Знание критериев оценки обязательно дляпреподавателя и студента.

РЕКОМЕНДАЦИИ ПО ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ

САМОСТОЯТЕЛЬНОЙ РАБОТЫ СТУДЕНТОВ

Ознакомившись с содержанием курса «Лексикология английского языка» на лекционных

занятиях, студентам рекомендуется продолжить усвоение материала методом самостоятельной работы,

основными формами которой являются следующие виды деятельности:

1.выполнение практических заданий;

2.написание докладов или рефератов (с последующим их обсуждением в семинарской группе);

3.получение опыта публичных выступлений: например, подготовка презентаций (на 7-10 мин.)

по темам, вынесенным на самостоятельное изучение (с использованием мультимедийных

средств);

4.самостоятельная работа с научной литературой, а также различными словарями (толковыми,

этимологическими, тезаурусами и т.д.).

Средства обеспечения усвоения дисциплины:

учебники, справочники, словари;

нетехнические вспомогательные средства: центральные периодические издания, местные

научные сборники, раздаточный материал, тесты;

материально-техническое обеспечение дисциплины: специально оборудованные

аудитории, демонстрационное оборудование (экран и (мультимедийный) проектор),

читальный зал и научный отдел библиотеки РГУ.

РЕКОМЕНДУЕМАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА

а) основная:

1. Арнольд И.В. Лексикология современного английского языка: Учеб. для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – 3-

е изд., перераб. и доп. – М.: Высш. шк., 1986. – 295 с., ил. – На англ. яз.

2. Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical Course in English Lexicology:

Учеб. пособие для студ. лингв. вузов и фак. ин. языков / Ирина Владимировна Зыкова. – М.:

Издательский центр «Академия», 2006. – 288 с.

б) дополнительная:1. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка: Учеб. пособие

для студентов. – 3-е изд., стереотип. – М.: Дрофа, 2001. – 288 с.

2. Бабич Г.Н. Lexicology: A Current Guide. Лексикология английского языка : учеб. пособие / Г.Н. Бабич. –

3-е изд., испр. – М. : Флинта : Наука, 2008. – 200 с.

3. Гвишиани Н.Б. Современный английский язык. Лексикология = Modern English Studies. Lexicology :

учеб. пособие для студ. филол. фак. высш. учеб. заведений / Н.Б. Гвишиани – М. : Издательский центр

«Академия», 2007. – 224 с.

4. Заботкина В.И. Новая лексика в английском языке. – М., 1987.

5. Кубрякова Е.C. Типы языковых значений. Семантика производного слова. – М., 1981.

6. Кубрякова Е.С. Номинативный аспект речевой деятельности. – М., 1986.

7. Кунин А.В. Курс фразеологии современного английского языка: Учебник для институтов и

факультетов иностранных языков. – 2-е изд., перераб. – М., Дубна, 1996.

8. Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – М. : Сов. энциклопедия, 1990.

9. Расторгуева Т.А. История английского языка: Учебник. – М., 2001. – на англ. яз.

10. Ступин Л.П. Словари современного английского языка. – Л., 1984.

11. Хидекель С.С., Гинзбург Р.С., Князева Г.Ю., Санкин А.А. Английская лексикология в выдержках и

извлечениях. – 2-е изд. – Л., 1975.

12. Швейцер А.Д. Литературный английский язык в США и Англии. – 2-е изд., стереотипное. – М.,

2003.

13. Ginzburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyazeva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern English Lexicology =

Лексикология английского языка: Учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – М.: Высшая школа, 1979.

14. Mednikova E.M. Seminars in English Lexicology = Практикум по лексикологии английского языка. Учеб.

пособие для ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз. – М. : Высшая школа, 1978.

Интернет-сайты:1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page – общая энциклопедия со свободным доступом и возможностью

поиска необходимой информации на разных языках.2.http://www.bartleby.com/reference/ – обширный набор англоязычных энциклопедий, в том числе

отличная коллекция художественной и справочной литературы на английском языке.3.http://online.multilex.ru/ – электронные онлайн-словари – 7 языковых коллекций: английская,

немецкая, французская, итальянская, испанская, португальская, узбекская.4.http://www.thesaurus.com: Тезаурус Роже – известный источник в электронной форме. В ответ на

вводимый англоязычный термин выдает перечень слов, связанных с ним по смыслу.Серьезный ресурс для профессиональных лингвистов и переводчиков.

5.http://www.lingvoda.ru: Советы лингвисту – специализированный интернет-ресурс для переводчиков,лингвистов и лексикографов. Осуществляется поддержка лексикографов, создающих

электронные словари (техническими средствами, экспертизой и др.).